Little Sparrowkeet
by MissLe
Summary: As far as Jinora's concerned, there's always been three parts to her life: when they meet, when she thinks she loves him, and when she knows she does. But she's always loved him, she doesn't know this, but for them it's always been a matter of forever.
1. she meets

The first time they meet is an accident.

She is the responsible eldest daughter of one of Republic City's respected leaders, graceful even at ten years of age and determined to follow her father's footsteps towards a peaceful nation. He is the bumbling eighteen year orphan, always ready to grace a goofy smile on his face and prepared to follow his brother to the ends of the earth.

Most of her days if she isn't meditating or training with father or being privately tutored, she spends quiet afternoons holed up in the temple's cavernous library, light filtering in softly against worn pages that she becomes absorbed right into. History, adventures, scientific theory, she obtains it all and cherishes each carefully printed or written stroke that slants against the paper. Knowledge is a far cry from the wisdom her father and grandfather possessed, she knows this, but it's her guilty pleasure and to know that memorizing the facts is a stepping stone to applying them.

Looking back, she finds it slightly ironic that that day she is diligently pouring over old scrolls of her grandfather's and his people's (_her_ people, _her_ ancestors) written in an ancient tongue even she needs to take her time with to stumble over the complicated language about meditation is the one he chooses to barrel into her sanctuary like a cannon, slamming heavy wooden doors behind him and jolting her upright. A small squawk escapes her throat as she watched scrolls fly everywhere, her airbending acting instinctively with her surprise.

He glances up at her with equal surprise, his thick eyebrows shooting up to the ridges of his flyaway hair as he pants heavily with his rigid back pressed firmly against the door. Both are a little shocked to find someone else in their place of sanctuary, but it is he who manages to move past the surprised owl-cat like blinking and grins freely. "Hey, wouldja mind sharing the space for a little while until Korra's calmed down or gets distracted enough that I can escape this island without bodily harm inflicted upon myself?"

Her eyebrows crease a bit as she attempts to place a name to the unfamiliar face that's wandering (running) the hallowed halls of her home. The way he throws out Korra's name as a casual acquaintance and the attire that wraps around a burly frame indicating an earth bender only brings her to the iffy conclusion that he was one of Korra's team mates from the mainland. Affirming this, she asks inquisitively, "Are you…Mako's brother?" It only takes her a second to recall the cute but brooding brother's name who had visited before; her memory never fails her.

"Yeah!" His grin doesn't falter as he takes a step closer before hesitating in his step and turning back quickly to shove a heavy bookshelf in way of the doorframe. She raises an eyebrow but says nothing, and he doesn't supply an answer either. Instead his steady grin is replaced with one slightly more sheepish and he extends a hand courteously. "So, kiddo, I'm Bolin. The other third of the Fire Ferrets."

"Jinora."

She takes his hand uncertainly as he pumps it once firmly before placing his own on the back of his neck and looking around the large library with a low whistle. "Well, I guess I picked the best spot to hide from Korra. I can't see her stepping within a foot of a book and this place has got to be big enough for a zillion hiding spots."

The verbal reminder of books draws her back to the delicate scrolls that have unwound and lay haphazardly across the floor in various positions. She yelps despairingly and begins gently picking them up in order, careful to tear no edges or put creases into the several hundred year old parchment. Once they are all cradled protectively within her arms, she glances at him and frowns, placing her annoyance and blame in herself for losing control and potentially damaging precious scrolls at him. Snappishly, she asks, "What did you do to her?"

"What? Korra?" He asks and shoves his hands into his pockets. "Well, you know her, she's a little hot tempered and gets frustrated real easy…she doesn't like it very much when Mako lectures her on bending form…or anything really. I just happened to pick a bad day to steal her lunch and take my brother's side in the fight." He laughs a bit. "Stupid of me to even _try_ picking a side. They're both so stubborn."

She can't help but smile a little at this. Korra loved her meat and Jinora had heard that the kitchen had prepared some pheasant-chicken in her father's absence; it wasn't very often that the Avatar got to indulge in it while on the island thanks to her father's strict vegetarian regime he attempted to keep her on. No, it certainly was _not_ a good day to steal a grab for her lunch.

As if sensing their speculation upon her, roaring and a string of filthy cuss words that would've made the guards blush echo through the hall outside the blocked door, calling for the blood of one unfortunate earth bender. Bolin quickly claps firm hands around Jinora's small ears and proceeds to flush at the profanity of the words being yelled before paling as they seem to intensify in their gory details of his soon to be dismemberment. Luckily, the tirade becomes quieter and quieter until Bolin lets go of her head and she hears through the high windows of the library the gates to the south gardens being thrown open with a clatter.

Curiously, she skips onto her desk haphazardly strewn with papers and scrolls, all of which deftly avoids stepping on with a light foot, and leaps gracefully onto the top of a bookshelf where she peers through the glass window into the courtyard to see Korra punching fireballs into the sky, moaning about her loss of her pheasant-chicken.

"I think you're in the clear for now. If you go through the north entrance you should be able to catch the ship to the mainland without her noticing there." She chimes down at him while still staring at the dark skinned girl who had moved on to creating small rocky mountains along the stone path in the garden (effectively uprooting a magnolia tree) while cursing her team mate for all she was worth. Oh, father was not going to be pleased…

She leaps down in the same manner she had gone up, careful again to avoid stepping on any reading material, before perching back in her chair cross legged gracefully. He is looking down at her with an impressed expression on his round face, "You're like a little sparrowkeet like that. You're a natural at airbending, eh?"

She can't help but flush, partly with pride in herself and partly with embarrassment at the honest compliment he paid her and merely smiles slightly. "I guess. But compared to Korra…everyone's a natural airbender."

The room is suddenly filled with his bright raucous laughter and Jinora can't help but think that it's a beautiful sound. Deep and honest, and it reminds her of the summer gales she had experienced the one time she had been able to visit the old air bending temples of grandfather's days. He dies down to a few chuckles and grins. "Yeah, I suppose compared to her_ I_ could make it look easy."

"She tries though. She tries very hard." She says to try to amend for her uncalled for jab at the water tribe girl. She adores Korra and knows that what she's saying about her trying hard is true, and that it frustrates the older girl to no end.

"Yeah, but it's not something you can just force out. You have to know your element and just…_be_ it." He shrugs, unable to supply a more eloquent situation. He doesn't have to. She knows what he means and agrees. Secretly, she has always wondered if that was why Korra always fails at it and if she will ever succeed if she can't embrace more of the breezing airbending qualities.

A shockwave resounds through the library as Korra finished what was probably a blow that further destroyed her father's gardens and snaps Bolin back to a cautious state as he backs up towards the door. He effortlessly slides the obstructing bookcase back to its original position and gives her a grateful salute with one foot half out the doorway. "Thanks for, uh, sheltering me from the avatar's mighty wrath and helping me with my escape."

She giggles. "I know nothing more terrifying than Korra when she's mad."

"True that." He whistles lowly before giving one final wave goodbye and closing the door behind him with a small click.

She waits until after dinner before bringing a large portion of hog-bear to Korra who had managed to thankfully only destroy a small corner of the garden with her wrath. Her voice is light and innocent as she tells the brightened avatar that she was fairly sure she watched the ship carrying her pro-bending team mates sail back to the mainland a little less than an hour ago.

* * *

The second time they meet, he seeks her out.

She is in the library again, curled up on a mat she had dragged in from her room surrounded by more scrolls she had discovered from grandfather's old collection. This time as he bangs the doors open with an obnoxious clatter, she merely glances up curiously and peers through the cracks in the bookshelves as he looks around left and right for signs of life.

"Hello?" He calls out a bit uncertainly.

"Hiding from Korra again?" She answers with a small giggle. He turns his head to her general direction where she's nestled between bookshelves comfortably in a quiet corner he is unable to see.

He weaves his way through a maze of shelves before coming to her small resting corner and gives her that bright grin. "Naw, I actually came here to say thank you. She caught up with me later but compared to before, I'm sure her reaction was much more forgiving."

"You're welcome." She murmurs back graciously and asks, "May I ask why you are here? _Were_ here?"

"Well, Korra invited us last time. She said with your dad off at the trade summit for the day we could finally see where she lived and stay for dinner. Not that that last part ended up happening…but Mako said we should try training out here for our next game this time. Different, freer terrain or something." He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "…They're fighting again, so I decided to stay out of it this time and take a walk. Got lost on the way to the kitchens." He grins sheepishly, his eyes suddenly catching on the scroll laid out in front of her. "Is that…metal bending_? Is that a scroll teaching metal bending?" _His tone becomes higher as his face lights up with unabashed joy before dropping down to his knees, peering curiously at all the scrolls she has lined up.

"Yeah," She places a hand on one and smooths it out. "They're all about honing bending a certain way. There's one on lightning bending and storm bending as well, it's all really interesting to see it come together in their own way."

"Where did you get this?" He picks up the scroll gently, much to her relief, and stares at its contents. "This is amazing."

"Grandfather Aang collected a bunch during his travels. Even made a few." She puffs proudly and puts another one before him. "You might find this one cool. It's combining fire and earth bending to get lava bending. Your brother and you might find it useful during your…pro-bending." She lets the word dribble out of her mouth uncomfortably. Even though pro-bending had helped Korra understand her airbending better, father still considered it a dishonour to the noble bending art, and it was something that had stuck to Jinora as well in her values.

He looks at her in surprise. "You'll let me look at these?"

She blinks. "Why not? This is knowledge to be shared, not something to be holed up selfishly. As long as you're not going to take it out of the library…" Grandfather may have travelled with these as a boy, but they are hardly in the same healthy condition seventy years after having been lugged across the nation to be treated the same way again.

His eyes brighten to something so full of gratefulness and something she doesn't understand, _can't_ understand after spending her whole life being given everything she needs, never having to _barter_ for a favour or necessities. "Thanks, little sparrowkeet." He ruffles her hair to her irritation and she squawks as she attempts to smooth back down the rats nest he has created with a single motion of a strong hand.

* * *

He visits fairly often now, about twice a month, and though he can't always spare the time to find her in the library, when he does he turns out to be an excellent student to the works she plans out for him to read. She knows he isn't interested in books about the populations of the squidcopi and the biological impact their growth rate has created on marine life but she instinctively can pick out which ones would garner his attention. Anything with earth bending is obvious, and he shows a surprising amount of interest in the meditation scrolls she had been reading before. He has a certain fondness for the historical scrolls of Grandmother Katara's adventures and sometimes tries understanding the small tidbits of scientific fact that comes with certain bending techniques.

After a few months, she begins seeing him as the older brother she never had and tells him all her accomplishments and secrets she has made, dragging him outside for him to view the small but powerful cyclones she manages to finally do after months of pouring over Grandfather's old scrolls, whispers to him how she tried a piece of pheasant-chicken and _loved_ it, she even brings in her new baby brother once to proudly showcase to him.

He smiles through it all and ruffles her hair calling her, "little sparrowkeet" and holds her little brother so carefully, so scared of breaking him. She likes the small smile he has when he does, likes as it grows to an excited grin smile as he begins jabbering in ridiculous baby talk she's only seen father partake in once with Meelo when he was a baby too.

* * *

"Excuse me," Her voice is almost unsteady as she calls in a soft voice to the passing merchant who barely throws her a disdainful glance and continues on his way.

She steels herself this time, takes a calming breath and closes her eyes to listen to her heart beat in its reassuring staccato before trying again, this time making her way towards the middle aged woman marching through the crowd, a child on her bountiful hips and a grocery bag stuffed beneath an arm. Gently, she taps the woman on the elbow, hopeful for her attention this time. "Excuse me—"

"Yes, here, have some change, but don't touch me, you urchin!" The woman trilled sharply and flicked a coin at Jinora where it bounced off her forehead into her open hand. The woman had darted through the crowds before she could even get the chance to correct her.

"Hey! Jinora!" A familiar voice tears through the haze of panic that is forming and she whirls around to find the strong and comforting face of Bolin who is pushing through the market crowd with ease until he is right next to her, ruffling her hair messily. It's all she can do to stop herself from crying from relief and throwing her thin arms around him and instead she settles for not berating him about her hair lets the gratefulness seep into her face.

He senses something this amiss and tilts his head slightly, "What's up, Sparrowkeet? What brings you to the mainland?"

Without warning, the story comes rushing out all at lightning fast Ikki speed, how father had sent her with a few guards to the mainland after her relentless begging to be trusted with the responsibility of retrieving the scrolls the city library had unearthed from the ruins of Wan Shi Tong's library, how she had lost the guards after getting distracted by the sights and smells in the city, how she had gotten lost in the market, and how she was now _completely_ lost. She is hyperventilating by the end and fisting the fabric above the collarbone anxiously, a restless breezing beginning blow against the skin of anyone near enough.

Sensing the small breakdown of the eldest of the airbending children, Bolin wraps a thick muscled arm around her shoulder and directs her towards a quieter corner of the market wedged between a noodle shop and a tailor where he puts hands onto her shoulders and orders, "Breathe. Jinora, I just want you to breathe, okay?"

Suddenly she forgets all her meditation lessons and the impact of what she's done hits her. She got herself distracted enough to get herself lost and has thereby potentially lost the trust of being her father's responsible eldest. She is almost _twelve_ and she was hopelessly lost in a city she should be familiar with but knew nothing about. Why didn't she read practically? Why didn't she leave behind the historical adventure books that beckoned to her so teasingly, instead of the textbooks on trade in the capitol or even a _map_?

Arms wrap around her and pull her tightly against a burly frame. "Okay, kiddo, breathe. Seriously. It's okay, I'll bring you to the library, find your guards, and get you home, alright? It's fine. It'll all be okay, trust me."

And she does, she trusts him because he's Bolin, keeper of her secrets and one of Korra's, who she trusts most of all, best friends, so she closes her eyes and breathes, taking in the steady heartbeat pounding strong against her forehead. Slowly, the gusts of wind slow to a gentle breeze that whispers across the back of her neck.

He rubs a hand up her back comfortingly before backing up and grinning at her. "So, the library, hm? Should've known that's what it would take to get you off your little island."

"They're scrolls from Wan Shi Tong's library!" She exclaims defensively, "Priceless and really, really cool!"

"Hey, no arguments from me there." He laughs and begins parting through the flow of people for her, though she is perfectly capable of weaving through on her own.

It's at the library she finds her guards who look near sick with worry until they lay eyes on her and all begin reprimanding angrily, relief hidden behind their eyes, to _never_ leave without saying anything or scare them this silly again. She reassures them that this will never happen again and bows her apologies, something that causes a bit of a scandal amongst them as they quickly tut their disapproval at her bows and usher her towards the library curator who would be giving her the scrolls.

As she returns with the scrolls carefully wrapped up and placed in her satchel, she catches the last bit of an altercation between the guards and Bolin, the latter who has his arms crossed against his chest, hissing something softly to the terrified guards. She raises an eyebrow in question as she approaches, but the guards refuse to meet her eye and Bolin merely gives her that grin and a hug goodbye as he explains he has training.

She never finds out what he said, but never again did she lost sight of her guards when she needed them.

* * *

**This was supposed to be a quick one shot...that turned into a three week long 30 000 plus word project.**

**Ain't that just the way of things.**


	2. she befriends

It's a little after her thirteenth birthday when the embassy of Ba Sing Se shows up at their door, loaded with an expensive entourage all crowding at the gates. Her little brother is balanced on her hips as she hops down gracefully from her perch atop a tree at her father's beckoning call. She remembers her father telling his family and Korra that for a while they would be having the Ambassador reside there for a few weeks as the trade issues were sorted out fairly. She thought there would only be a few stuffy old men that would be seen only at meals while they mostly holed themselves up in father's study discussing issues at hand, not this circus of garishly clad servants and what seemed to be all their sons and daughters.

She matches her stride to Korra's who holds on her face the expression that Jinora only wishes she could display. The woman glances to her left at the young airbender who merely lets a look of resignation cross her face and murmurs, "What the…"

"Jinora, Korra," Her father has an arm outstretched, gesturing them over to the head of the embassy, presumably the ambassador himself. "I'd like to present to you Song-Fei, ambassador of Ba Sing Se. Song-Fei, this is the Avatar, Korra, and my son and daughter."

Jinora bends as gracefully as she can with a two and a half year old held firmly to her hip, discreetly tapping Korra's calf with her foot to awkwardly do the same, and murmurs, "It's an honour to meet you."

"Uh, yeah, same. Honour." Korra finishes her clumsy bow and rights herself with a hand on the hip that juts out in her typical cocky fashion. "But where's the other two demons of yours Tenzin?"

On cue, Meelo and Ikki come rushing in on their air scooters, the former leaping upon his father's shoulders with a manic cackle while the latter resorts merely to hopping around her father's waist, chanting, "We're his son and daughter too! I'm Ikki! This is Meelo! Haha, I like your beard, it's like daddy's only not as good." She giggles hysterically and clings arms around her father who is desperately trying to keep some level of stoicism as the children continue to harass him.

"I'm sure your journey was long, would you like me to bring you to your rooms?" Jinora volunteers politely and steps in front of her father who places a hand gratefully on her shoulder. "I'm, um, I'm not sure we have room though for your whole group…"

"Yes, this would be appreciated." She watches as the old man does what he can to stop the twitching that's happening at the corner of his mouth, whether up in laughter or down in disdain, she can't tell. "And you needn't worry about the servants; they will stay on the mainland. It is only my family that will be residing here with me as well." She can't help but wonder why they bothered with the grand entourage of them then anyways. They are hardly going to serve to impress a family of airbenders who live amongst a clan of monks and had no need for any of their own.

So she nods her understanding and keeps the relief from flooding across her face before handing her little brother to Korra with a small kiss to his cheek that he clumsily tries returning. With a resolute turn on her heels she begins walking into the temple, followed by a smaller fraction of the group who look grateful to escape the frenzied eyes Meelo was staring them all down with. She decides as host to this entire group of nobles it's best to give a small tour, so she walks them through the gardens where they politely compliment the small stone garden (created on behalf of Korra several years before in her fit of rage that destroyed that portion so badly that no plant wished to grow there anymore), the dining hall and finally to each of their bedrooms. After half of the family is settled, a deep voice pipes up amongst them, "Where are all the servants?"

She looks back in surprise and finds the owner of the voice to be a surprisingly wiry young man probably closer to the age of sixteen with arms crossed petulantly across a narrow chest, his longish hair tied back in the traditional earth nation manner she had only viewed in books and scrolls. She tilts her head to the side slightly and answers, "Aside from our cooks, we don't have any."

Several scandalized looks cross the groups face as the ambassador sighs slightly and pinches his long nose between two age worn fingers. "It is only for a few weeks, you are fully capable of _handling_ it." He looks back at them, a stern expression upon his creased face.

They look around uncomfortably at each other before the young man sneers in a way that is closer to a pout, "Why can't we just bring ours here?"

"And where are they to stay, Fong-Li? Our ship over here barely had enough room, let alone this temple." The old man is doing his best to hide his annoyance and slight disdain, and Jinora can't help but feel incredibly awkward and intrusive viewing this small window into their family affairs.

The boy shrugs. "She showed us the flying bison stable. I'm sure there's enough room in there."

It's now Jinora's turn to look scandalized. "The temperatures can drop below freezing out there some nights!"

He spares her a cool glance. "I'm sure they've been through worse."

It is right then and there that Jinora vows to make this boy's life as difficult as he can without causing her father any grief. Maybe she could even set Meelo on him.

* * *

The harbour is full and crowded as Jinora hops off the deck of the ship to land delicately on the ground, her guards trying to quickly scramble down the ramp behind her. She sighs slightly in annoyance as they clatter and bang, gathering the inquisitive attention of all the locals around, and begins walking towards the golden dome that glitters garishly in the bright morning light.

By the time they reach the arena's entrance, the guards have managed to put themselves into some semblance of professionalism as they stalk in a V formation behind the young air bender. She stops before the doors and whirls around to command, "Stay."

They all form protests before she raises a hand calmly. "I know father said you had to follow me _everywhere_, but I don't want the attention of the other half of the Capitol to know one of the council's representatives is here visiting the pro-bending arena." She had even lost her traditional air benders garments to don a slightly heavier green cloth that spoke of the locals (she had stolen it from one of the nobles with a little shame on her behalf, but not much as she found her silk training shirt being used as a pillow case in one of their rooms last week) and felt slightly awkward in the way it flowed around her body.

"Then don't go in." One of the guards supplies and raises an eyebrow challengingly.

"Korra's in there. I'll be fine, and I need to speak with her." She raises the eyebrow right back daringly. She may be the more mature and soft spoken of her siblings, but in no way is she less stubborn, her nonabrasive demeanor merely makes the way she gets around to having things done her way subtler.

They sigh collectively amongst themselves and resign to lean against pillars with crossed arms. One of them frowns this time and says, "Don't even _think_ about escaping into the city by yourself."

She grins wryly. "Of _course_ not."

The arena is quiet at this time in the morning, and only the odd clanging of equipment being used is heard in the whole building. There is no roar of excited crowd or quick jabbering of a commentator she sometimes hears from the radio the guards listen to at night time when they think no one is around, and she is grateful. She has no desire to watch a match, only to find her friend.

She does eventually find her friend, just not the one she originally had begun searching for. He's alone in a training room, hurling disks and heavy weights into a strong net that looks to be near tearing from the exertion placed upon it. There's sweat pouring down his brow and shirtless back, and she watches in interest as beads of slide across corded muscle that's dusted with curly black hair before she catches herself and looks instead at the worn net, asking with an alarmingly flushed face, "What's the net ever done to you?"

He pauses in his movements, nearly tripping over his two feet before looking up and grinning brightly at her. "Hey, my little sparrowkeet, haven't seen you for a while!"

And he hasn't. For last few weeks she has been holed up in the temple, surrounded by snobby Earth nobles that resolutely refuse to leave until every single term of their conditions towards the trade treaty is met to the T. The few weeks they were supposed to stay turned into a month and a half and it's finally worn down to her last nerve. She helps in whatever way she can by trying to diffuse situations between the guards and the guests, keeping Meelo and Ikki busy in their training when father can't be there specifically to help, and it has given her no time to visit her study in the library or do anything but work herself to the bone and collapse onto her bed at night once it is all done for the day.

"I've been busy." She answers with a shrug and steps into the large training arena, asking awkwardly, "So, this is where the training happens, hm?"

"That it is," He returns to throwing boulders and disks at the net and she is a little put out at the easy way he has already forgotten about her for his training after a month of not seeing her. A little spitefully, she gives a flick of the wrist and sends the trajectory of a flying disk into a set of dumbbells with a clatter. He turns back to her and raises an eyebrow, "What was that for?"

She answers with a slight grin that she has allow a bit of cockiness seep into. "You can obviously hit a stationary object, but what about one that moves?" She drops into a stance that keeps her light on her feet and sways slightly, ready to move at any given second.

His eyes widen at her implication before he shakes his hands and head in a definite _no_. "Oh, oh no way. I am not hurling projectiles at you. These things hurt, Jinora."

"You won't hit me." She answers confidently and weaves easily enough to send a sharp slice of wind his way that knocks him off his feet with a rough twist in the air.

He sits up on his elbows and smirks, his heavy eyebrows knitted together in a challenge. "Alright Sparrowkeet, let's do this then." He jumps onto his feet and with a grand sweeping gesture, sends a large boulder flying towards her torso. Deftly, she spins out of the way and ducks gracefully as another is sent towards her head.

What starts off as an easy spar where Bolin is quite obviously holding back against the small girl becomes more heated as sweat pours off of the both of them and his attacks become quicker and her evasion becomes swifter and more difficult, but true to her word, he is unable to lay a single pebble on her.

Her long hair is flying in an uncontrollable mess as wind gusts through the gym and she leaps from atop punching bags and mats, avoiding everything that comes her with a bound or a twist of her body. She's impressed with his light footed coordination, something she would not have thought possible with a grounded earth bender, and it interests her how he manages to combine a bit of everything into his fighting style; the ferocity of a firebender, the fluidity of a waterbender, and the swiftness of an airbender. It's only when the low whistle of a bystander sounds through the gym, shaking her concentration, that a disk nicks her temple and she falls from her perch on a set of monkey bars. She steels herself for the hard impact that suddenly is softened by strong muscle surrounding her as she hits Bolin with a jarring thud, sending them sprawling on the ground, Jinora still tightly held in his grip.

"Oh, fuck, are you okay, Jinora?" Korra leaps over a miscellanea of strewn and broken objects that lie on the floor to gather the small girl into her arms. "I'm so sorry, are you hurt?"

"I knew this was a bad idea." A dark expression clouds over Bolin's face and it's a shock to see; it's one Jinora has thankfully never viewed before and it fills her with shame that she is the cause. His hand grabs her chin in a no-nonsense manner and tilts it to view the sharp cut that bleeds heavily down her eyebrow. His eyes fill with his own shame and slight despair and he whispers hoarsely, "That's a lot of blood."

"Of course it's a lot of blood, it's a head wound." Jinora forces herself to say calmly and presses the sleeve of her silly earth nation shirt to the wound, applying as much pressure as she could without wincing. "It's shallow, don't worry." She glances at Korra. "Do you have bandages?"

"Yes!" The woman jumps up frantically and pulls on the firebending brother's shirt, the one that had followed her into the gym and yanks him hard. "Show me that first aid room again."

He nods without a word and leads her out of the room, leaving the two alone and sitting on the cold floor. She doesn't know what to say and can sense his anger seeping through his pores, though anger at who, she's not really sure and not really sure why, so she lays her other hand gently on his shoulder that stiffens. "It's barely a nick, and this sort of stuff happens all the time in the arena, no?"

"You're not in the arena; you shouldn't even be _close_ to being in it." He spits out and clenches his hand before it falls into an open palm in defeat. "I'm sorry, kiddo." He whispers and she can't help but smile a little. Anger doesn't suit him and neither does this stifling self-pity, but it makes her feel a little better to know it's not her he's mad at, not really.

"Thanks for catching me." She pats his shoulder once before returning her hand back into her lap demurely.

He laughs at this and shakes his head a little, his round nose scrunching slightly as sweat falls into a jade coloured eye, "Thanks for being light enough to catch. You really are like a little sparrowkeet, all bird boned and everything. Korra is seriously more like Naga than she thinks, probably even weighs as much."

A sharp slap to the back of his head has him curling inwards to clutch the back of his abused skull that Korra had just made contact with. The Avatar sniffs and sits between the two, her arms full of unnecessary items stolen from the first aid kit. "Muscle weighs more than fat, and you know I could beat your fat ass any day, Bolin."

He yells hurtfully and pouts, though there's a laughing gleam in his eyes as he whines about the abuse he suffers from his two team mates, only to quickly turn those whines into exaggerated praises after catching the sharp glare Korra sends his way. She proves to be adept at taking care of these types of wounds, something that Jinora finds a little surprising despite the fact the three of them must face them almost every time they trained.

"So, why are you here, Jinora? I noticed the goons all chilling outside at the entrance." Korra asks curiously as she dabs disinfectant into the cut and it's all Jinora can do to just hiss heavily through her teeth to avoid crying out.

"I…needed to get off the island." She admits quietly and watches as Korra contemplates over the variety of bandages placed before her before deciding to cut a smaller piece out of a large roll. "I figured if you could come here to escape, maybe I could try it once."

Korra laughs. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Those stuffy Ba Sing Se-ers are a real pain in the ass; I really can't deal with them like your father hopes I'll be able to." She chuckles slightly and places the bandage on the cut to apply some pressure.

"At least you didn't have a stuck up noble stalking you around because he's too bored to do much else." Jinora mutters quietly and crosses her arms neatly against her chest. Her plan at first to make Fong-Li's life hell had started off fairly swimmingly. She made sure that the spoiled nobles only received vegetarian dishes after a convincing talk with the cooks and even let Meelo run at break neck speed into the snobby boy's room every so often to pounce on the young noble at the crack of dawn, declaring it training time.

Her plan however spiraled in on itself as it seemed to only cause the boy to seek her out to whine or seek solace from Meelo's constant barrage of question and bites. It wasn't long before he came seeking her out even when he wasn't in danger of having teeth getting sunk into his hea merely for the company. His company was nerve grating merely in the way he thought he was better than anyone and treated anyone who wasn't a directly higher station than him as a peasant, but it isn't in Jinora's nature to snap and turn someone away, so she resorts to hiding from him or staying as quiet as she can in his presence to avoid screaming out loud.

"Oh gods, the grandson of the ambassador? That little shit?" Korra rolls her eyes and sits back on her hands. "You know he has a crush on you, right?"

"Oh, a crush?" Bolin wriggles his eyebrows teasingly and Jinora has to laugh because she suddenly affronted with the vision of two dancing caterpillars before she nods morosely.

"Yes, I know. He…kissed me last night."

This causes a ruckus of sorts as both Bolin and Korra leap to their feet, rolling up sleeves and meeting each other in a deadly serious look of agreement between them. The muscles on both of them are tensed and the veins cord in and out of thick flesh angrily as they flex them threateningly and Jinora can only pinch her nose in exasperation. She should know better, really.

"Kill?" Bolin grunts out and narrows his round eyes looking very much like the deadly earth bending muscle he had been before hired as by notorious gangs around the city. Something about it sets Jinora's heart skittering fast as it scares her and it clicks something that could very well change the way she thinks about the gentle giant she had named her friend

"Kill." Korra nods and looks ready to storm out of the gymnasium had the eldest of the Ferrets not wrapped steady glove clad fingers around the collars of their necks and held them firm. The two yell and struggle but Mako is adamant as he shakes his head.

"What if she liked the kiss?"

The question stuns all three of them as Korra and Bolin whip their gazes to Jinora in horror as she turns a startling shade of vermillion. Of course she didn't. He had literally cornered her last night after dinner after a day of awkward comments she had only later realised were attempts at flirting and placed a hand on the wall behind her to press his lips wetly against hers. She didn't struggle at the time only because she was stunned speechless, but as soon as she had felt a tongue press against the seam of her tightly closed lips, she had let loose a huge gale of wind that sent the boy spiraling away and she sprinted the entire way back into her room, locking herself shut.

She suddenly realises they are all waiting for an answer and she suppresses the urge to deny it adamantly, knowing that if she does that it will only further enforce the two's urge for dismemberment. Instead she slowly shakes her head and says, "No, but the black eye I gave him will give him enough to stay clear of me." She lies easily, she didn't exactly give him the black eye (he had merely smacked his skull on the courtyard fountain after she had pushed him away with her bending), but it is enough for the two to relax and let identical smirks blossom on their faces.

"Thatta girl," Bolin laughs and ruffles her hair, careful to avoid her slowly swelling temple. "But I think we should bring you home soon. You didn't tell your dad you were leaving for the day, did you?"

Her blush confirms it and she sighs. "Only if Korra comes back with me. The ambassador and his family _should_ be leaving in the next week and father wants you there to see them off."

A whine can be seen rising up from the back of her throat but the water tribe native stuffs it back down and returns the sigh with a grumble. "Alright, if I guess if it's only a week I can avoid killing them all…"

She pats the Avatar's back comfortingly and they make their way out just in time as the owner of the gymnasium shrieks in horror at the mess they had created. She feels a little guilty and promises to herself to find some more earthbending technique scrolls that are surely hidden amongst Grandfather Aang's collection.

* * *

This time when they meet in the library, it is she who comes barrelling in and slams the heavy wooden doors behind her frantically as she darts her gaze around her library, hoping that for once there are no members of the Ba Sing Se embassy or their relatives lurking around and that they have all gathered at the gates for their departure by now. Instead she finds the Bolin peering up from a book he seems lost in in surprise, his head tilted curiously and an eyebrow raised cautiously. "You doing okay there, Sparrowkeet?"

"Is it only you in here?" She hisses quietly and scrambles over to him, hiding behind his chair and bulky frame, only peering up at the door behind her messily swept aside hair from behind his wide shoulder.

"Uh, yeah, I think." He turns in his chair and looks between her and the door. "What's going on?"

"_Fong-Li_." She hisses with a shudder and ducks behind the chair further as if the issuance of his name will call the boy into the room. Her eyebrows crease suddenly in confusion. "Why are you here, Bolin?"

"Korra wanted to practice today and she wasn't allowed to leave the island on orders of your dad, so we decided to spare him the grief of her escaping and just come over ourselves. Right now she and Mako are in the middle of another fight…so I thought I might come look for some more meditation techniques that might _actually_ help her out." He gestures to the books before him. "Maybe I could get Meelo to teach her though, he's pretty good at it, hm?"

Her laugh at the genuineness of his response is cut short though as the doors slam open again just as she manages to duck behind the chair with the honed reflexes her bending training has provided her with. She can almost feel the air become saturated with that air of self-confidence and arrogance that seeped from his skin every time he is near her.

"Have you seen Jinora?" The boy asks haughtily and raises an eyebrow at the lone man in the library and seems to finish his assessment of him with a casual sneer.

Even from behind the chair Jinora can hear Bolin's teeth grinding together as returns the once over and asks, "Who are you?"

"Fong Li," The ambassador's grandfather answers airily. "Grandson to the cousin of _Toph Bei Fong_." The only change in expression the boy seems to be able to make is through a variation of sneers that range from disinterested to disdainful to annoyed. "Who are you? Son to a peddling street merchant?"

The air crackles with a sudden blast of Bolin's chi and the only thing Jinora can think to do is gently grasp his elbow beneath the desk and squeeze it lightly. He calms somewhat and grits, "Actually, I'm on a pro-bending team with the Avatar. Perhaps you've heard of us? The Fire Ferrets, the youngest winners of two pro-bending championship tournaments."

"Pro-bending?" Fong Li's thin face finally morphs into a scoff as he crosses his arms delicately. "How…uncouth. I suppose it's fitting though."

Before anything can escalate further, the young noble's name is being called in the hallways by a family member and he dejectedly responds his acquiescence to leave. He deigns Bolin with one final parting sneer before storming out of the library, aristocratic nose held high in the air.

As soon as the doors are shut, Bolin whirls upon Jinora who has sank to the floor in relief, his green eyes disbelieving. "_That_ little shit is Fong Li? Korra's descriptions really don't do him justice and I'm suddenly really proud of her that she's managed to stop herself from burning him to ash. You let that creep _kiss_ you?"

She flushes deeply at this and springs up to her feet. "I didn't let him! And that's why I ran into here actually…"

"He tried kissing you again?" Bolin roars and jolts up from his chair. His constantly errant curl has fallen into his line of sight and several others have joined it in his field of vision. She finds it distracting to talk to him as they bounce prettily with every jerked movement. He calms suddenly and straightens himself upright. "It's cool. I'll go find Korra. We'll go kill him for real this time."

"_No_!" She shrieks and clings to an arm desperately. "They're almost gone, and it's fine. I think it's some sort of old earth country tradition or something to give goodbye kisses which is why he keeps looking for me."

"You're falling for that line?" Bolin asks incredulously and runs his free hand through his hair that pulls a few curls back away from his face. "I've been to Ba Sing Se, and it's certainly _not_ part of their culture to give kisses good bye, not even good bye pecks on the cheek. Even if it's old culture, it's not…_appropriate_ for him to be dredging it up now." He looks down pleadingly at her. "You sure I can't just break a few bones or make him eat some dirt to get that old noble digestive system going?"

She laughs and shakes her head, "Not today. It's the last day I'm going to have to see him anyways."

He holds true to his words and breaks no bones and watches from the gate as Korra, Jinora, and her family respectively bid the ambassador and his family adieu, but she glares back suspiciously when after reluctantly receiving a goodbye kiss on the cheek from Fong Li, the boy trips on a rock that she swears was not there before and falls face first into a pile of mud. He spits up a mouthful of dirt and glares daggers at Korra and Meelo who howl with laughter before storming off to meet the rest of his family who have assembled at the small ship.

Bolin answers her glare only with a haughty shrug and a smirk as he stuffs his hands into his pockets and walks back into the temple, whistling a hearty tune.


	3. she thinks, maybe

She hates them. She hates these arrows that line her limbs and head as much as she is proud of them.

She is naked in front of a mirror looking at the blue lines that now mark her as an apprentice airbender, so close to becoming a master. The skin surrounding the lines is slightly blistered and an irritated red, though the salves Grandmother sent left them feeling miraculously cool and free of the initial searing pain she had felt when they had been added. Her eyes drift up to her shaved head and tears spring forth that she can't help but let spill down her cheeks. She has never been a vain girl but she has never found herself to be especially ugly either until now.

Her brothers love the tattoos and she knows it's all they want to do to feel them, but under strict orders from father, they manage to refrain. Meelo grins and taps his head, saying that they match now and she has to hold back another barrage of tears every time he does because it's hardly every fourteen year old girl's dream to look like her nine year old gangly brother.

So she hides herself. She comes out for meals as well as the mandatory tutoring and training her father provides for her, but she stays in her room for the following weeks, not even venturing to the library.

_Especially_ not the library.

It's Korra who manages to make it into her room after blasting part the barrage of heavy furniture the girl had placed in front of the door as a blockade. She follows the sound of the startle yelp that is hidden beneath a thick fort of quilts and blankets and roughly jerks them off of the girl curled up in a fetal positioned ball.

"What are you doing?" Jinora moans and snatches desperately for the blankets still being kept out of her reach.

"What are _you_ doing?" Korra snaps back, "Your family is worried sick about you, Mako and Bolin think you've contracted some sort of disease from the tattoo needles, and_ I_ have been worried sick about you!" She crouches and finally takes a good look at the girl who has makes it into a kneeling position before her. "Do they still hurt?" She gestures to the long stripes along her arms and the arrow donning her forehead.

"No," Jinora whispers back. They haven't hurt for a little over a week, and there's only a trace of the redness from before.

"Then what is it?" Korra asks in frustration. "Why do you hole yourself up in here? Are you ashamed of them?"

"No!" She cries back and clutches her arms defensively. "I…I'm very proud of them. But…" She finishes in a soft whisper that Korra barely catches as it drifts brokenly through her ears, "…But I'm bald. The monks say it could be months before my hair gets past being bristles."

"Oh, Jinora." The avatar sighs and brings the girl closer to her in a firm hug. "Bald, hairy, bald_ing_, you are the most beautiful girl in Republic City. I'm not even saying this to make you feel better, because it's true."

At this, the younger girl shakes her head vehemently and hisses, "I know I'm being stupid and vain, but _don't_ lie to me. I know what I look like. Even Meelo's managed to point it out more than once that I'm basically his twin now." She sobs the last bit and tries choking it back again futilely.

"Sparrowkeet, she's not lying to you."

She gasps as she hears that familiar voice and buries her head deeper into Korra's embrace, wishing for once she was an earthbender just so she could take the stone floor to swallow her up whole. His hand is warm on her back as he crouches low next to them and rubs her spine soothingly, reminding her of that one time he had found her in the market all alone and more than a little afraid. She refuses to look at him and feels betrayal that Korra would even bring him in here. He is one of her best friends, yes, but there is no way she was letting him see her like this.

"Come here," He urges persuasively and pleads gently with light tugs against her sleeves. "We're all really worried about you. We miss you. Your brothers have started making a thousand paper cranes to hope you get better. Admittedly, Meelo keeps making them fly away into the trees, but he's really trying."

She can't help but choke out a laugh at the visual. It sounds like her brother alright, always with the best intentions, but with an attention span too short to accomplish them. He seems to take this as his chance and pulls her out of Korra's arms gently so she is sitting between them cross legged on the floor, her hands clench tightly into the folds of her pants.

He ruffles her head, feeling the peach fuzz that bristles softly against the palm of his calloused hand and smiles. "It feels pretty cool, eh? And you look hella badass with those tattoos, little Sparrowkeet."

She finally meets his eye and she lets the corner of her mouth drift up ever so slightly. He's earnest in his comments and grins, and she lets herself feel that maybe there is a little truth to their comments. At this, Bolin's smile breaks into his thousand watt grin and he rubs both hands against her head this time and pulls her to his chest like that where he continues to pat the light bristles. "See? It's that smile that makes you our pretty girl."

"…You just really like touching the fuzz, don't you?" She asks in a voice muffled by the thick fabric of his shirt and he laughs sheepishly.

"It's pretty cool." He admits and pulls her up to her feet with a quick tug. "How's about we go feed you some of that tofeasant they've made in the kitchens today, eh, kiddo?"

She doesn't know why, but for once, hearing him call her kiddo wrenches painfully at her heart and all she wants to do is return to her blanket nest and hide again, but she has duties to her family and this temple, so she smiles and follows him without a word.

* * *

"Oh my god, Bolin! _I love you_!"

The shrieks are obnoxious and desperate as the three pro-benders step into the centre of the arena, the youngest brother smirking proudly and even blowing kisses to the audience that goes wild for it. Jinora leans against the balcony ledge and rolls her eyes, unable to believe his reactions to the audience and theirs to him. Beside her, Ikki and Meelo are leaping up and down in excitement; the latter's eyes wide and his grin threatening to split the skin on his face while Ikki has to keep from squealing herself.

It was an invitation from Korra that has them here, as well as the near tears begging towards her father on behalf of Korra and Jinora's younger siblings that had undergone in the past week. The argument was that the children had barely stepped foot off the island and thus really hadn't experienced the mainland culture, something a free trip to a pro-bending match could potentially rectify. In all honesty, Jinora hadn't really cared which way the debate went. If she went, it was an experience at least, and if she didn't, well, then it was an experience she wasn't about to be forced into.

In the end, Korra's final jab about being too over protective and that his children should have the freedom to make the choices they wished, how they made them was something based upon their upbringing and if raised right, watching a pro-bending match was hardly going to sway them. There were hugs and cheering all around as Tenzin's face had returned from a bright purple colour to a dejected pale pallor and he reluctantly growled out his acquiescence.

"They're gonna win, right? The Fire-Ferrets gonna kick some Tiger-Moose _butt_, right, Jinora?" Even at ten years old, Meelo's teeth are sharp as they gnaw against her skull and she has to sigh as she carefully disentangles him from her to place him on the ground with a reprimanding flick to his nose.

"We don't bite anymore, Meelo." She sighs and rubs his prickly head with a soft hand. She recently has discovered and understood Bolin's fascination with the sensation of softly shaven hair against skin after taking up his habit of ruffling hair in an affectionate manner. Her own hair is finally back to the length she had when she was a ten year old girl, the only difference now is the looseness in which it hangs with no bun or pins to hold it back. She is intensely grateful that her mastery training no longer requires the partially shaven head that the women of ancient times had sported; her small amount of vanity she allowed herself to keep would never have allowed for it.

"_Yeah_, they're gonna kick some Moose-Lion butt, _go Fire Ferrets_!" Ikki is almost dangling off the edge of the balcony as she shrieks her support, hands pumping wildly as her voice refuses to go hoarse.

Meelo throws himself on the ledge as well and from their box seats, Jinora is sure the whole city can see them so she merely leans up against the balcony again and smiles demurely at the crowd. There are flashes of a camera and she is sure that it will not be missed in tomorrow's newspaper that the children of one of the city's most respected councilmen are avid pro-bender fans.

The commentator is rambling out a long winded introductory of the two competing teams, and it's no secret that the Fire Ferrets are a local favourite as the crowd screams and cries as each member of the team is being introduced. Jinora watches in horror as a pair of underwear is thrown at the feet of Bolin who stoops to pick it up, his eyes searching for the owner. He seems to meet their gaze as the expression on his face melts into something that Jinora can only describe as _sinful_ and something in the pit of her stomach bubbles dangerously, it feels heavy and hot and she knows it has no place in her especially as an airbender. He blows a kiss towards the woman and stuffs the pair of panties into his pocket obviously as the crowd goes beserk.

She sees Mako roll his eyes as both he and Korra punch the earthbender in the arm none too gently, but after that Jinora's gaze is diverted to the woman across the stadium leaning confidently against the rail that holds her in her seat, a smirk and a blush plastered clear across her face. There's a bit of disgust that wells up in Jinora as she sees the beautiful woman, probably a native of the once Fire Nation judging by the pale skin and golden eyes, and a bit of something else as well that has to do with the heavy feeling in her stomach. She forces her gaze away though as there are cheers and Ikki and Meelo are both tugging excitedly at her sleeves; point one for the Fire Ferrets.

Both Korra and Bolin are in the centre of the arena whooping wildly and meeting each other in high fives. At Meelo's bellowing, the two turn around to face the box seats in which the trio stand and their faces light up and hands shoot in the air to wave excitedly. Jinora smiles back and chances a quick wave seeing the glowing look that Bolin gives them and she flushes a deep crimson as he puts both hands to his mouth to yell plain and loud, "_Next point's for you, Sparrowkeet_!"

The crowd is searching for this mystery girl and she ducks down quick behind the balcony as the commentator speculates on who the Fire Ferret's ladies man's Sparrowkeet could be while Ikki and Meelo are shrieking shrilly in excitement that the next point is one dedicated to their own sister. She peeks up behind the rail and watches as each attack that Bolin coordinates is graceful and well aimed and almost each one hits. He refuses to practice with her and heavy disks anymore, but sometimes she goads him into trying to hit her with a few sand filled bean bags. He almost never manages to hit her, but after a year of this hesitant form of training, his aim has improved significantly.

It only takes a few minutes but after a combo attack between the two brothers in which Bolin finally hurls a disk into the opponent's solar plexus, the last man is thrown off the stage and Bolin is running around the arena cheering wildly, pumping his fists in the air. Both Korra and he manage to ambush Mako with arms thrown around the older of the three's neck as they throw off his helmet and ruffle his hair. His face is filled with annoyance, but there's a small grin there as well as he jerks their arms off of them.

"They've done it again, folks, the Fire Ferrets advance to the next round!" The commentator declares and the crowd is standing in their seats, stomping and cheering for all they're worth.

When the three Fire Ferrets finally make it back into the room in which the airbending siblings had congregated for the match, Korra is assaulted by excitable bites on behalf of Meelo and arms that are thrown around her by Ikki who is jabbering faster than a parrot-monkey. Jinora herself finds herself swept into the sweaty arms of an equally excitable earthbender who is jumping up and down in excitement.

"You guys came!" Bolin roars and squishes him close to his unpleasantly sweaty chest. "I swear, you're like a little good luck charm, Sparrowkeet. Those guys hadn't lost _once_ this year and we took em out in like, ten minutes." He pulls her back and laughs at her horrified face as she stares down at her now sweat stained airbender's attire. "Oh, sorry about that. It comes out, I swear!" He ruffles her hair and smiles before murmuring quietly, a sound that's almost drowned out by the yells shared between Korra and Jinora's siblings, "Really, thanks for coming kiddo. I know you don't approve of pro-bending, not really," He smiles softer. "It means a lot to me."

"Of course I came." She huffs in a no-nonsense way that he chuckles at. "If you ask, I'll come." And it's true, she's not sure she could ever deny him that.

He looks as if to say something in response, but there's a quiet clearing of a throat at the door that garners everyone's attention. It's the woman from the stadium, all panther-esque as she leans against the door jamb, a lock of hair falling seductively in her amber eye as she eyes up Bolin from head to toe. Jinora can practically feel the attention he had been placing on her be stripped off of her skin as he stares back at the intruding woman with equal appraisal. She takes a small step in, much to Korra and Mako's exasperation and Jinora's uncontrollable disdain.

"I hear this is where the winners come to play," The woman's voice is soft and low like deep velvet, something Jinora had felt during Ba Sing Se's embassy's stay at the temple.

"You could say that." He smirks back, that smirk Jinora hates because it's so not him, not big blustering Bolin who had a smile that could light up the whole city, it's someone else, someone who sets her nerves and hairs on the back of her neck on edge and makes her stomach coil into uncomfortable knots. Sometimes she forgets he's a man of twenty-three, not just her friend who trips over his own feet to try to get the last dumpling.

She doesn't like this feeling, can't understand it, and anything that Jinora can't make herself know or understand is something she finds intensely disagreeable, so she grits her teeth and puts shaking hands onto the shoulders of her siblings. "Come on. We need to head back to Air Temple Island." She ignores the groans and moans that spout from Ikki and Meelo as they beg to stay and she gives a small smile to Korra and Mako, "Congratulations on the win. I'll see you at home tonight, Korra."

She doesn't miss the sorry looks the firebender and the avatar shoot her as she leaves, and it is another reason for her to hurry them out of the crowded stadium, as it's just another thing she can't quite figure out.

* * *

The white robes flutter listlessly around her as she steps off of the bison with the help of a hand being extended from a guard, unable to bring herself to float down or use her air scooter. The gathering of people in the square is enormous, so full of people that there wasn't a spot that Jinora couldn't see a body clad in white or a down cast face with tears streaming down it. She wants nothing more to break down too, but her time for crying has past, and being behind this podium next to her father doesn't allow for it right now.

"My mother, Katara, was a brave woman. The trials that she took on for the peace our nation now possess were numerous and began before she even began her life as an adult." Her father's voice is strong and steady, though she can see his hand shaking slightly through his speech. She wants to grab it, anchor herself to the ground when she feels like nothing more than a feather ready to be blown by a gust of wind. Instead she pulls her hands into fists and stands straighter.

Everyone seems to have a chance to say something. Following her father, Korra is there standing strong, her face twisted into an expression of numb severity as she chokes out her speech, a wizened man named Haru who came from the former Earth Nation, and so many others. Her siblings manage to even say something small but profound, a small tear leaking out of their eyes for the loss of their grandmother, but they are strangely subdued in their actions and words. All Jinora wants to do is bawl, she wants to rip apart this stupid stage with slices of winds and tornados, wants to yell at this crowd that they didn't even know her grandmother, didn't know she had a softness for seaweed bread, that she had a sharp temper that only they, her grandchildren, were spared, they only knew stories. What good were stories, if you didn't understand their core values or meanings?

Suddenly her father is gesturing for her to stand up at the podium and a wretched wave of fear and loathing overcomes her. She doesn't want to share her piece of her grandmother with the whole world, she fears if she does, she will lost it forever, lose what little she had left of her grandmother forever. But Meelo is tugging insistently on her hand, and Ikki is whispering to her that she can do it, all she needs to say is a few words for Gran.

The world is waiting for her.

Even as she is standing at the podium, her breath is held though her head is high.

"My grandmother…"

She can't do this. She can't be expected to. She is the air, she wants to fly away and really there is nothing stopping her, nothing stopping a little feather from floating far, far away from this city and world. Her eyes close for a moment and when she looks out, it is his gaze she catches from the sea of people.

His green eyes are steady and suddenly (though not unexpectedly, not at all) he is her rock. He is grounding her, and she isn't sure what it is that she manages to say as she stares intently into those green, green eyes, but the crowd has hushed completely silent. Korra is next to her out of nowhere and she is clutching her hand, the other one making a sweeping gesture with her arm that starts at her heart and ends in the air. It is something from the Water Tribe culture, one that Jinora's encyclopedia mind cannot recall right now, and the crowd mimics it solemnly.

* * *

The temple is adorned in white; everyone is wearing the mourning robes of white. It makes her a little sick, seeing all this reminder of death, so she sits atop the temple, wind howling in her ears as she stares at the city lit up in the dark across the water, unsure how much of this is from the airbenders residing at the temple or from the ocean itself that seems to mourn her grandmother's loss as well.

"Hey, Jinora. Ikki said I could find you up here."

For once, she doesn't turn around at the sound of his voice, doesn't even feel affected either way. She stays staring at the ocean, the same one that had carried away her grandmother on her burning funeral pyre. He sits next to her, heat radiating off of his muscled body and she doesn't stop herself from cringing. She doesn't want to feel warmth, or feel anything; if all she feels is this numbness, then it can't descend further into the initial pain she felt when the news reached the island. She has her siblings too to take care of, and they depend on her to be their rock when they live in a world only of airbenders and a lost Avatar.

"Your speech was beautiful," He whispers to her and takes her small hand in his. She doesn't pull away, but she doesn't clutch it back either. He takes this as encouragement and continues to speak, "When my parents died, I was only a little boy, I was five I think. I dunno, everything at that time was too hectic to keep track of something so silly as time. But I remember feeling so lost, and so scared, and so sad." His hand clenches hers tighter as he keeps talking. "All I did for a while was cry, and Mako was the one that took care of me. I don't think I ever saw him cry, but I knew it had to be harder for him than me, he didn't think he was _allowed_ to cry."

He suddenly pulls her into his chest, so warm and comforting, and strokes her back in that way that makes her feel safer than she ever has before. "But Jinora, you can cry. You don't have to ball it up for anyone because you have us; we're here to make sure you get through this." He presses his cheek against the top of her hair and sighs, "_I'm_ here to make sure you're gonna get through this."

And the tears can't be held back anymore. She's clawing at his tunic and banging small fists against his back as the wind becomes a storm, whipping hair and fabric angrily against their skins. She doesn't know how long it takes for her sobs to turn into dried up hiccups, but she feels drained of everything as she stays cradled in his lap listlessly as only a small breeze whispers against the drying tear stains.

"I miss her already. I wish I had gotten more time with her." She whispers quietly and rubs her eyes with the heel of her hand.

He laughs softly. "That's how it always is, how everyone feels when a loved one dies. Usually though, people get more than their fifteen years of life to be with them."

"I'm sixteen next week." She doesn't know why she has the need to correct him this way. Technically she _is_ still fifteen. She shifts so her face is buried in his collar to croak, "When an airbender turns sixteen, they are sent to the main nomad temples to train for a year to become a master."

His hold on her becomes stiff and it's his turn to croak, "You're leaving?"

She nods tiredly and traces the golden pattern etched into the sleeve of his shirt. "It's a great honour to have bestowed upon me." He voice is dull and she can't even muster the energy to pretend she is excited or that she cares.

He holds her tightly and buries his head into her hair. "I can't say I won't miss you, my little Sparrowkeet."

Maybe because she is so tired, maybe it's his usage of the name "Sparrowkeet," maybe it is the stress of the past week, or maybe it's the way the city light glows off his skin like sunlight, but she sits up in his lap and stares earnestly into those jade stone eyes to murmur, "Will you kiss me?"

He is stunned, she can see, those eyes widen and those ridiculous eyebrows skyrocket to hairline. For a moment, she thinks he will. His head comes closer and she can count every golden fleck in his eye, every eyelash that flicks out. His forehead is pressed against hers and she can butt her nose against his if she wants, but his eyes close and his head is shaking. Something in her cracks a bit and out comes a spewing laughter that is choked by the ball of tears that's threatening to well up again. As she stands, he looks confused and a little frustrated, perhaps thinking it's all a big joke on him.

But it's not. It's one big hilariously universe shattering joke on _her_, and it always has been.

She doesn't say goodbye to him when she leaves for the Eastern Air Temple a week later.


	4. she knows

"Hey, Korra! You there?" A head pokes into her bedroom and looks does a quick survey of the room, almost missing the girl who was standing and unpacking a small suitcase full of toiletries. "Stop sucking faces with Mako, we gotta train in the morning!"

"Bolin?"

He jerks up at the sound of his name and gawks at her as she stands willowy and surprised before him. His mouth is open and he sways a little on the spot, causing a quick but easily correctable stumble further into the room, but his gaze never leaves her form. She says nothing, a little scared that if she does, she'll end up forcing him out, and honestly, she doesn't know if that's really for the best or not. His sudden charging at her that comes out of nowhere startles a small squeal out of her as his arms are thrown heavily around her body, caging her in an iron grip. They end up tumbling onto the bed, his body weight pinning her tight to the mattress. "_Jinora_!" He shouts and buries a face in her neck.

"H-hi," She gasps breathlessly from under him and finds it difficult to breathe until he gets the hint and quickly works his way up to his elbows, his grinning face oh so close to hers. His hands grasp her face and his eyes are wide and still so childlike, so very him, as he whispers with a heartbreaking amount of vulnerability, "You're real, right? You're so…grown up now." His voice cracks a little on the last part and she misses the look behind his eyes as he averts them away quickly.

"Bolin," She sits up on her elbows with some difficulty (with _much_ difficulty, the man is easily over two hundred pounds), "I…what are you doing here?"

"No," His eyes narrow sharply at this and those eyebrows scrunch together. She bites her lip slightly at the tone, one that brooks no argument and is filled with a bitterness that shames her. "No, you are not turning this around. Jinora, what are _you_ doing here?"

"I'm an airbending master now." She answers weakly and doesn't know what else to say. "My year at the main temple is up."

"I know," His teeth are grinding now and his eyes are painfully squeezed shut. She wants to run fingers against the creases to smooth them out but miraculously manages to refrain somehow. "But the year ended _five days ago_. Why are you _here_? Why haven't…why haven't you come by to say hi?" His voice cracks a little and she can't help but gently wrap her arms around his large body. She's twelve years old again and his heart is there against her forehead thudding out the most comforting staccato, keeping her safe from the world and grounding her to it. He rolls them onto their sides so he can return the embrace without crushing her and buries his nose into her hair to whisper, "I really missed you, Sparrowkeet."

When that name is uttered, all of her hurt she that had built up over a year of wallowing and that lacked any closure vanishes like a candle flame in the wind. She wants to laugh. How spiteful a creature she is, unable to forgive her best friend for not taking advantage of a scared and emotionally wrecked fifteen year old who depended on him to always make the right choice and just _be_ there. She wants to hold him tight to her too, wants to never let go, but she just pats his shoulder soothingly and admits, "I missed you a lot too, Bolin."

He squeezes her to him once more, surrounding her with that earthy scent that is so masculine and so _him_, before reluctantly dropping his arms and lying down on his back beside her on the bed, his arms held behind and cradling his head. He's the first one to speak and laughs quietly, "You know, this isn't how I imagined our reunion."

She's more than a little annoyed at her traitorous heart that thuds uncomfortably at this. What does he mean by that? Did he imagine her running into his arms, a giddy eleven year old happy to see her best friend? A slap on the face for breaking her heart further? Or did he expect her to try and force a kiss out of him this time? Jinora is smart though. She learns from her mistakes. So she answers back honestly, "Me neither." Mostly because she had no idea what to expect when she saw him again, and some small foolish part of her expected to be able to hide away forever so she wouldn't have to face the embarrassment and the shame of seeing him again.

She _did_ miss him, missed him so much. There were so many times while she was gone that she wanted to write to him, phone him, or just escape back home to explain herself, but there was always some reason she could come up with to avoid it. Hesitantly, she grasps his hand in hers and squeezes tight, so afraid that he'll pull away and leave; even more afraid he'll bring up that one night of a foolish fifteen year old girl's desperate wish.

He turns to his head to her, his face filled with surprise and a little bit of relief, and he smiles that heart wrenchingly warm smile, his fingers closing warm and firm over hers. Neither has said anything, but they understand the apologies spoken and each of them are more than willing to forgive the other.

* * *

"What's…what's wrong, Sparrowkeet?" He pants as he lays spread eagle on the ground, unable to move a muscle or even tilt his head slightly to direct his voice her way. "I don't think…we've ever…ever trained this hard before."

She can't say anything because she's panting even harder than him from her own place on the ground, sweat dripping down the bridge of her nose to get tangled into long eyelashes that fan against her cheeks as her eyes scrunch painfully tight. It's too warm in her skin and she wants to strip it all away, but manages instead to lift her hand with a small flick and a cool breeze shuffles over their skin, drying away the sweat. He sighs appreciatively and manages to sit up after that, slicking back sweat soaked hair away from his forehead before crawling over next to her.

"Really, what's on your mind?" He asks insistently and leans back on his hands, letting the sand sink around his calloused fingers. They train on the beaches of the island now as it proves to be a little less destructive than being holed up in a small gym surrounded by heavy weights that end up flying everywhere and causing even more damage.

She doesn't want this discussion, she wants to sink into the sand and have it drag her far out into the -ocean, far away from this island and this city and its politics. In fact, it's why several hours ago she had sought out Bolin and attacked him without a word, viciously slashing at the air, ignoring his surprised yelp and his frantic questions about what this was all about. Eventually he stopped talking, merely because he was unable to continue and needed to save his breath for every dodging leap and every stone he hurled at her.

"Hey, Sparrowkeet, you can talk to me." He reaches for her hand and is a little stunned as she quickly pulls it away to grip it in a fist close to her heart. Suddenly she's not sure if this was a good idea, because she's almost certain that she can't talk to him, not about this, because doing so would break her heart past the capacity to mend it, she's sure.

"Please."

His voice is pleading and soft and her self preservation isn't strong enough to overcome her need to please him. She allows him to grasp her hand this time and pull her up to a sitting position where she droops her head, allowing long wisps of hair to fall in front of her face. She looks down at their hands, his strong and calloused from a life fighting to survive on earthbending, hers soft and graceful, never having to touch the hardships of a sword or hard labour.

"Do you remember when the Ba Sing Se embassy came here? And the ambassador brought his grandson, Fong Li?" Her voice is hollow and sounds dead now that her breathing has returned to normal.

"Yeah, I'm not about to forget that little shit's face for a while." He laughs before turning somber, seeing his jab has no effect on her demeanor. She can tell he's getting worried by the tense way he's gripping her hand and the way she can see his veins stick out starkly from his dark wrists. It makes her feel a little if not better, then at least a little less heavy hearted knowing that he is so loyal and cares so much.

"…I've received a marriage proposal from him."

She can feel his pulse stop for a moment as he goes still, before raucous laughter fill the air and he's bent over on himself, doubled up in uncontrollable laughter. She lets him. It's a better reaction than anything else he could give her. His laughter eventually dies down and he's wiping his tears away. "Wow. Wow, that fucker thinks he stands a chance with you?" His eyes are bright with laughter as he closes in on her, his face close to hers and excited. "Please tell me you told him, 'Read my lips, no way in hell, you stupid ass wipe, because there is no way you are ever touching them again.'"

"Bolin…"

He doesn't let her finish as he continues to throw insults at the nobleman, each one more cutting than the last before she jerks her hand away and stands up, shrieking, "_He said I marry him or Ba Sing Se stops all trade with Republic City!_"

The air is completely still as Bolin's eyes widen and his jaw opens and closes, unable to form words. He doesn't even speak as the ground begins to rumble dangerously below them, cracks forming deep into the sand around them and she has a frightening flash of image of the temple collapsing behind them. The only thing she can think to do is throw her thin arms around him and hold him tight, to keep holding on until finally his ragged breathing calms to some semblance of normal. He's clutching at her back making snarling noises in the back of his throat and whispering hoarsely, "What can he do? He's the grandson of the ambassador, not the son of some real politician. And who the _fuck_ throws about these antiquated traditions like this, like you're some _child bride_?"

It stings as he says all of this and she whispers back just as hoarsely, "I'm not a child anymore."

He looks at her startled, his face melting into softer lines she's more familiar with as he whispers, "No, no, you're not."

She closes her eyes and leans her cheek against his strong heartbeat and feels his against the top of her head. She's trying to take deep breaths, but she knows they're coming out too fast still, and she begins to explain. "The original ambassador, Song-Fei, died, and his son took his place. Fong-Li's father. His brother is mayor of the city...their politics are convoluted enough that they could pull this off."

"There has to be some way around this!" He yells and he's squeezing her too tight, but she only squeezed back just as hard, afraid that if she doesn't he'll leave, leave her alone on this beach, alone in her life.

"There isn't." She gasps and can feel the ball of tears engorging in her throat dangerously.

"_Why are you giving up so easily_?" He roars, the ground trembling beneath their knees. The waves are choppy as the sand beneath them continues to shake dangerously below it.

"Do you _really_ think I haven't tried? My father, me, Korra, we've all spent _months_ trying to come up with some plan! _Nothing works_!" Her father after hearing the proposal was livid and nearly sent back an excruciatingly detailed letter with a few choice words written by Korra who had almost torn the whole island down in her rage. Fortunately or unfortunately, at this point she wasn't even sure, her mother had calmed the both of them down enough to begin discussing strategy, but there were no loopholes because it was such a straightforward demand. Marry off your daughter or face an intense shortage of oil that could very well cripple the entire city.

"…Months. _Months_?" He hisses and grips her by the shoulder, shaking hard. "You've known for this long and you didn't tell me? _Did you think I wouldn't help you_?"

His grip is painful and it's possible for her to get out of it, but she doesn't even try because she's counting down all the last touches she will be able to share with this man who she _loves_, who the universe has all but teased in front of her like a bone to a starving dog. Her cry back is vehement as she shakes her head furiously, her eyes firmly wedged shut. "_I didn't want you to have to_!"

She deflates, her legs becoming useless, and it's only his arms clutching her tightly by the shoulders that holds her up in this kneelling position. It doesn't take long for him to gather her to his chest again, but this time he sinks to the ground with her and they stay like that until it is Korra who finds them after the sun has set and gently tugs them up.

* * *

The following weeks are a haze of grey to Jinora as the temple plans the wedding.

Her father has lost his rage and instead looks perpetually sad as he wanders the halls, barely managing to throw himself into his work for the city. Korra on the other hand has lost none of it and being near her is like being near a firework whose sparked tail you cannot see and must be ready to duck at any second when the final blast eventually does come. Everyone is somber and only her siblings do their best to keep a strong front for her. She finds it a little funny after years of trying to do so for them, that in the end it is they who have to be her support and she is so intensely grateful for it. She isn't sure what she would do if they did break down in front of her.

The only person who does not offer her condolences or congratulations though is Bolin, because she does not see Bolin during the next couple months of preparation, something that flares off a spark of resentment and hurt deep within her. She doesn't understand his aversion to seeing her and she thinks maybe it's punishment for her leaving him without saying goodbye, but she hardly thinks he has it in him to do something so spiteful.

* * *

Her feet are light and stealthy as she leaps onto the high ledge of the glassless window. She takes a quick scan of the lofty room and smiles slightly, even at twenty five, his room reeks of being a bachelor and there is a mess that takes over the most of the floor of food wrappers and strewn clothes.

He's right on time as he stumbles into the room alone and she lets out an audible sigh of relief. She wasn't sure what she would do if there was another woman with him again. At first he doesn't notice her, and that's when she knows there something is wrong. It's Bolin, and being trained to sense when a rock that's barely in your peripheral vision is getting hurled at you is much harder than sensing human presence. In fact, he doesn't sense anything until she clears her throat delicately, a small noise that barely seems to register with him before he looks up with annoyance.

It's right then as he stares blearily into her face that she can see his is drunk. His face is a flushed colour before dropping immediately to a startled white as he reaches uncertainly towards her. She isn't sure what to expect and hesitantly reaches out a hand that he grabs and snaps her into his arms lightning fast. "Jinora," He gasps and cradles her skull close to his chest. "Why are you here?"

"Why are you _drunk_?" She hisses. This wasn't a part of the plan…

"We won." His voice is sullen and he seems bored with the question as he begins to run thick fingers between the long strands of her chestnut hair. "We won the championship tournament again. Korra and Mako are still out celebrating…I didn't feel like keeping up tonight."

She smiles at him awkwardly in an attempt to lighten the cloud he's brought into the room and laughs lightly, "Fourth year as champions, hm? Rising from the dust and just taking over the pro-bending world, aren't you?"

He only shrugs and runs a finger down a blue arrow down her arm that he's brought to rest on his chest and leaves a trail of goosebumps in its wake. "I guess." She watches as there's something in his eyes that flashes too quick for her catch each time, some sort of inner struggle that has been welling up since she has stepped foot into the room. She can't tell what he's decided on when he presses his forehead to hers, his eyes closed in pain. His voice is soft and behind all the liquor on his breath, she can still smell him, strong and steady. "Why are you leaving me?"

"I don't have a choice, Bolin…"

His eyes snap open furiously at this. "You don't have a _choice_? There is always a choice, Jinora_! You can say no_. Your father hopes that you will, Korra is about to beg you to and your siblings wish it more than anything that you will!"

Her face contorts into something a mixture between shock and rage. "Do you think me so _selfish_ to do that? To make my whole city suffer because of it?"

"No," He hisses at her scathingly. "No, I know you won't be selfish, that you'll do anything for your city. _But being selfish is the only way to survive_! Believe me, I know, being altruistic isn't going to help you!" He yells desperately as his voice turns pleading, "Don't…leave." He reaches up to cradle her cheeks between rough, warm hands and presses his forehead against hers again to mumble softly in a last ditch effort, "Please, please just this once be selfish."

At first, all she feels is frustration at the tears that pound at the back of her head to be released because that's all she's been doing in the confines of her room is crying silent tears into her pillowcase, hoping no one will hear. The frustration however is quickly drowned by the heartbreak that cuts through the dam of tears and she shakes her head to breathe out quietly in a ragged exhalation. "I…_can't_. I can't let myself do that."

"Then…" The way his hands tilt against her cheeks suddenly changes the dynamic of everything. Her nose is now pressed against the side of his and she is only a few inches from his mouth, his hands becoming tender in the way he holds her close. "…Let me be selfish tonight. Just this once."

She can't even ask him what he means by that because his mouth is soft and gentle against her lips and she grasps him by his collar to keep him close, not daring to push him away because if she is to be selfish about something, this is where she'll devote all her greed. The way he kisses her is so refined and perfect that she's now clutching to him mostly for support, but she knows it's not him, that the way he's kissing her is so _wrong, _something saved for the hussies who visit him after matches for victory parties. She can taste him faintly beneath the liquor that only serves to remind her that he is not in full control of himself right now, something that tears her heart up even more (but a shattered heart is a shattered heart, what difference does an extra shard here or there do?). Desperately, she licks the seam of his mouth to find more of _him_, she wants to be able to taste _him_ beneath the alcohol because maybe if she can delude herself now, deluding herself against a life of misery won't be too hard.

There's a throaty rumble that reverberates through his chest as she does this and she's pressed against the wall suddenly, his hands threading through soft strands of hair and clutching her close to him. She knows she lacks an embarrassing amount of finesse that he has contributed to the kiss thus far, the kiss that has turned into something reckless and open mouthed, but what she lacks in experience she tries to make up for in enthusiasm.

Later she'll be grateful when he tears himself back from her mouth, breathing raggedly into her neck, but right now all she can do is manage a keening whine and force her breath to come out of her nose in order to hide her own wild breathing. He manages to roll his head up and rest an arm on the wall behind her to keep a small distance between them as he mutters bitterly, "I'm guessing you didn't come all this way to do that tonight."

She can't hold back the tears this time and tries to keep her hoarse voice dignified as she whispers, "I c-came to invite you to my engagement party that the nobles from Ba-Sing Se will be hosting on our island in two weeks on my eighteenth birthday."

"You know," He lowers his head and shakes it a little before chuckling scathingly, "You really know how to play a guy, Sparrowkeet. No wonder little prince charming is so enthralled."

The use of her nickname is like a sharp slap to her face. Swiftly, the tears dry and her face loses colour as she pushes him off of her roughly, something only done easily as he steps into the push away from her. "I don't _want_ this! I don't want to marry him!" She shrieks angrily, her chest rising and falling more rapidly with each intake of breath. "_And __**you**__ kissed __**me**__!"_

"_You kissed back_!" He shouts back as his face does the opposite of hers and turns a startling shade of crimson. "And you know, since it seems it was such a mistake, let me take it back. I don't need to _burden_ you with anymore of my self-centred desires!"

There's no more fight in her as she steps back towards the window, no more tears or yelling, nothing but the desire to crawl back into her bed and sob until she threw up her heart if such a thing was possible. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you, sorry to…to have…" She can't even finish her sentence before she jumps out the window and lets the rushing air swallow her up, gliding and weaving past buildings to bring her home.

* * *

"You are stunning, Jinora."

She can't stop herself from flinching slightly as her husband-to-be lowers his head slightly to brush his lips against her cheekbone. Everything about him makes her want to hide, from the predatory grin that he gave her the first time he laid eyes on her in five years to the low timbre of his voice that hasn't changed as it slides across her skin like grease since she remembers him as a gangly sixteen year old throwing directions and demands about in her own home. So far however, thanks to the interference her family and Korra has run up to this point at the inevitable engagement party, she has never had to talk to him one on one since he stepped onto the island three days ago and right now she is at a loss of what to say or do.

"Thank you," She manages to spit out and shrugs delicately out of his arm that had somehow managed to snake its way around her waist. The angle that Korra insisted she play was the chaste virgin that demanded propriety until their wedding; something Jinora honestly didn't have to work too hard to achieve, and though off putting for Fong-Li, was also something he had thankfully respected so far.

"It's a shame to see you in this…white though." He frowns and pinches one of her sleeves for inspection as his gaze roves disdainfully over the silken fabric.

Personally, Jinora can't think of anything more apt than the mourning colour white to be donned in for her engagement party as she feels little more than the sacrificial lamb being herded to the slaughter. However, she will take no credit for it as her entire wardrobe for the engagement and even the wedding itself was taken up as a project by Ikki who insisted she would be the only one able to do it justice. Aside from the white off putting white colour, the dress itself is a gorgeous thing that fits right to her skin like a dream and Jinora can't help but agree with her little sister's prowess as her wardrobe guide.

Instead of saying any of this though, she merely shrugs and supplies the answer that Ikki had given at Jinora's raised eyebrows after seeing the dress as well. "The Western Nations are beginning to use white for their weddings and their dresses too. Since father said this was a union between two growing cities and a merger of cultures as well, it was apt to draw in as much culture as possible…to keep things modern."

She knows how Fong-Li feels about anything modern and he makes no attempt to hide it as he sneers at the idea. "Well our wedding will be a little less…_morbid_, to be sure."

She can't do it. She can't stay in his presence any longer and forces herself out of it by feebly using the excuse that she needs to find a drink before losing herself into the crowds of people. She does find a drink though, a lovely flute of peach wine her father had stored in the cellars for years before the nobles had discovered it in their nosy snoop of the temple and insisted it be used for an occasion such as this, and throws her head back indelicately to swallow it in one go.

"Woah, there, Jinora!" A hand takes the glass from her hand swiftly before quickly replacing it with another full one. She blinks for a moment as she lets the fuzziness that has seeped into her bones dissipate slightly before taking in the form of her sister who is grinning cheekily at her. "You're gonna need a few of these to get through the night…so maybe we oughta take it a bit slower, hm?"

"Mmm, Ikki," She croons and wraps an arm around her sister who is also dressed in something from the Western Nations, her hair swept up into a fetching updo and her dress a lovely thing she called chiffon. "You are the perfect wedding planner. If you weren't going to head off in a couple of months to become a master airbender as well, I'd say that you ought to be doing _this_." She gestures broadly to the beautifully decorated temple where seas of people are milling about making pleasantries to one another.

"Well, there's still time to decide." Her sister grins back and returns the hug easily before dropping her voice to a sad whisper. "I just wish…I wish it was a different wedding I was planning for you, Jinora."

It takes a lot not to begin wailing as she realises just how much she is going to leave behind when she moves to her husband's palace. Not just the home she's grown up with or her friends, but her family, her family who may be able to visit but would be a whole sea away from her. Instead she sniffles slightly and sips at her peach wine. "This whole debacle has turned me off of them completely in all honesty."

Ikki laughs a little at this and leans against her sister who clutches her hand desperately before the youngest murmurs quietly, "I'm sorry to hear this, really, I am." She stands up from the shoulder she was leaning against and presses her hands firmly onto Jinora's shoulder. "But now it's time to down that glass again and get socializing." And with that she pushes on her sister's shoulders in a way that has her spinning awkwardly in a full one-eighty where she lands clumsily against someone's chest. The flute of wine spills onto the shiny leather of their shoes, though thankfully the glass itself remains intact as it bounces harmlessly off of the same shoes and rolls away on the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry—" She gasps in horror before a rush of breath is stolen from her as she stares up into familiar jade irises. She can't breathe as she takes in his slicked back hair and the intricately designed lapels of his form fitting suit because he's more gorgeous than anything she's seen and all she wants to do is drink him in even though it kills her knowing she can only look but not touch. Especially not after last time she had seen him.

Since when did she become such a masochist?

"Jinora," His words seem to stick in his throat as he gently grasps her by the elbows to right her up. Altogether, he is the picture of unease with his hand rubbing awkwardly behind his head and those eyes darting around the garishly decorated hall, anywhere but where she is. His mumbled greeting is low and she strains to hear it when he finally makes eye contact with her to say, "…Hi."

"Hello," She breathes and straightens herself hastily, unable to stop herself from letting the clumsy words spill out of an even clumsier mouth, "What are you doing here?"

"I…was invited." He smiles wryly at her and stuffs his hands into his pockets. His shoulders are hunched and he scuffs his feet uncomfortably against the ground in a way she has never seen him behave. This is _Bolin_, smooth talking and always infuriatingly cheerful Bolin, but the man she was seeing right now reminded her of any other young boy that trained in the air temple as well.

She doesn't come up with anything to say to that thanks to the music that has begun playing through the lofty pillared room that signals its conversion to a dance floor. She looks around uncomfortably as couples begin to form around her to take part in the festive dancing and she tugs on his sleeve lightly. "Care to dance?"

He looks startled at the proposition and rubs the back of his neck uneasily and side steps a blissfully unaware couple. "I don't think that's such a good idea…"

"Oh, yes, of course." Her face turns an unflattering shade of rouge as she wilts a little in embarrassment. _Of course_ it wasn't a good idea, for many reasons such as the fact she would probably be swept into the arms of an over eager fiancé, but principally the fact she would be swept up in _Bolin's_ arms; something that needed to be avoided at all costs since the last time they had met.

"No!" He cried suddenly and gripped her arm firmly. "It's…not that. I just can't dance at all, I've seriously got two left feet and no sense of rhythm." His smile grows a bit as she can't help but choke up a little bit of laughter at the visual and he tugs her arm insistently this time. "Can we go somewhere to talk though? Maybe the roof?"

The roof is the last place she wants to go discuss things, not since the last time she was up there turned out to be an almost equally awkward moment with Bolin as the one two weeks ago. So she bites her lip slightly and shakes her head, watching him deflate visibly. She sighs and pulls him by the hand away from the crowd towards the edge where a quiet hallway appeared behind the curtain of people. Their silent walk through the halls isn't interrupted by either of them speaking, though she does catch his raised eyebrow as he begins to recognize which direction they're going.

The doors of the library are pushed open warily as she quickly ushers him in, extremely uneager to have someone find them and pose speculation as to why fiancé to the brother of Ba Sing Se's mayor is sneaking around her own home with one of the city's infamous playboys. Her back isn't even pressed against the firm wood of the door to keep it closed behind her before she's pulled into a crushing grip where all she can make out is golden etched lapels that press against her cheek.

"I'm so sorry," He chokes out and keeps her tight to him. "I never…_none_ of that should have happened that other night. It's hardly an excuse, but I was so drunk and so mad that you're going to leave me…please, can you forgive me, Sparrowkeet?"

"You can't…" She began wearily and couldn't bring herself to push away, not when he was so warm and smelled so much like home it breaks her heart. "You can't call me that every time you need to make things better."

She can feel his surprise rather than sees it and the rumbling in his chest indicates the swell of laughter rising. "Sparrowkeet, _Jinora_, that's what I call you because that's what you _are_ to me, my little Sparrowkeet. Forever and ever."

"No." She pulls herself off of him and hisses, "You can't." To him, his little Sparrowkeet is a ten year old girl who has just learned how to be light on her feet and has enlightened him to the value of reading. She doesn't want to be that girl to him '_forever and ever_.' It nearly comes out of her mouth to demand him to leave her but the realisation that it doesn't _matter_ if she's his Sparrowkeet forever because she'll be shipped off in a week's time to be wed hits her hard and fast. Quickly, she clamps a hand over her mouth to muffle the keening wail that's forming because she can't _do_ this anymore. She can't keep pretending to be strong when she's so terrified of what misery might lie across the sea in Ba Sing Se.

This time when her cheek is pressed against the strongly beating heart she knows that it will have to be someone else that tears her away from it. His hand is rubbing warm circles against her lower back as sobs are wrenched from her body and she stains the beautiful fabric of his jacket with her tears. The way he holds her right now is reminiscent of _that_ night, but this time there's no hope, no tension, just the comfort that he provides that encases her like a cocoon.

"Jinora," He nuzzles the top of her hair comfortingly and sighs quietly, "I haven't said it yet, but you are the bravest person I know. You don't deserve this. _He_ doesn't deserve you."

"I'm not brave," She gasps and clings tighter to him, her strong rock. "I'm so scared. I don't know what…how…"

The grip he has her in now almost constricts her breathing as he hisses pleadingly, "_Stay with me_."

There is no chance to even mull over what he could mean by that when the doors are thrown open and her fiancé is revealed, gawking angrily with his mouth opening and closing like dying flying fish. Awkwardly, she pitches herself out of Bolin's arms and wipes her tears away roughly with her wrist, gasping, "F-Fong-Li, are you lost?"

"What is going on here?" He whispers with thinly concealed rage as he darts his gaze between the two of them, her question completely ignored.

"I…I was just saying good bye." She replies and wills her voice to be steady. She may be forced to be his wife, but there isn't anything that will make her cow under him.

"Were you?" The sneer on his face is so venomous she needs steel herself against flinching. He won't see her break. "How…intimate."

"Yes." She can't stand to look in his rotten pouting face. Can't stand to be near him. Stonily, she meets his gaze one last time and lifts her head high to respond coldly, "I was saying goodbye to a dear friend."

She brushes past the both of them and her hands are shaking from the effort not to scream and tear apart the whole room with the tendrils of wind rising to her fingertips.

* * *

**Well, that was a longer chapter than usual.**

**ALSO, I lay disclaimer to the "you kissed me," "you kissed me back" part of Jinora and Bolin's aftermath, I wrote that before the fifth episode came out and Korra and Mako had their own issues. SWEAR TO BLOG.**


	5. she is helpless

It is three hours before she is to step foot onto the ship that will take her off to the rest of her life when the deafening blast that is followed by an ominous thud resounds through the temple and shakes the foundation of the island. Sharp screams erupt, most notably from her mother who was already on edge the entire morning and on paper thin nerves.

"What was that?" Jinora runs to the window her father is standing at grimly where she can see a billowing pillar of smoke rising from the edge of the city by the water. There are flames and to her horror she can make out the golden plates of the pro-bending arena melt and warp into something unrecognizable. She barely registers the screaming that's coming out of her mouth until her father pulls her to his chest where her screams don't stop until she no longer has a voice left to make any noise with.

"Mako and…Bolin." She manages to croak out as the strength in her legs give out and she's leaning her full weight on her father. She looks up frantically, "Korra, she's still here, right?"

"Yes," Tenzin strokes the crown of her head reassuringly like he used to when she was a small child. "She refused to leave the island until you had."

She breaks down into grateful tears and claws her way up into an unsteady standing position. "I…I need to see her." Turning her head to stare her father in the eye, she murmurs, "I'm not leaving yet. I need…I _need to know_."

"Of course not." There's relief in his eye as she says this and he clutches her hand to squeeze it once. "I will never make you go, you know this right, Jinora? But you're such a brave girl, Love…"

She smiles weakly and him and replies, "I've been told before." With that she's off as fast as the wind and dashing down halls searching frantically for her friend, screaming her name. It doesn't take too long to find her there at the beach staring at the smouldering arena, her eyes wide but her mouth clenched into a tight grimace.

"_Korra_!" Jinora shrieks and grips her friend's shoulders tight. "Korra, what about…what about _Mako and B-Bolin_?" She can't keep this stillness in the air that Korra has managed to wrap around her tightly like a coffin, not when silence gives too much room to think and all she can do is panic.

Almost reluctant to turn away from the flaming carnage before her, the Avatar looks to her, her eyes full of grief as she shakes her head slowly and whispers, "…I don't know."

She needs to back up and away from the woman as she says this, a hand clamped tightly against her mouth. Her clumsy footing leads her to trip backwards on a lying rock to land on the sand in her haste that's swirling angrily beneath her fingertips. Wind is howling and the waves are chopping furiously around them as the two stare at each other, one in shock, the other with a grim set expression that only cuts deeper with the loss that seemed to be there as well. Jinora wants to cry all over again, but she knows if she lets herself, it will only seem to prove that they are dead, only crush the little flicker of hope she holds deep down.

"Oi, oi, oi! Let's not bring down the island too!"

She whips her head around faster than probably is good for her spine and she's crawling, clawing to get to her feet. His voice hooks around her throat, draws her near and constricts all her breathing as she throws arms around him desperately and clings tight. He returns the hug and laughs a little, "Really now, Sparrowkeet, did you think I was going to let you waltz all the way across the world in your fancy boat without saying goodbye?"

She can only respond by punching him in the rib angrily, something Korra mimics as well with a little more force directed at Mako's face.

* * *

It has taken over ten years, but Amon's revolution has reached its breaking point.

Secret meetings held in obscure and abandoned warehouses had grown into something wild and untameable, spreading across the city into the outer regions towards the counties where further rebellions had been started. Tenzin admits he isn't sure exactly of their numbers, but it is a frighteningly large portion of the population who support the insane man with the mask and wish for the end of the bending rule.

Their first blatant act of terrorism was the destruction of the pro-bending arena.

The death count was unknown currently and the number of injured was rising alarmingly from those who could be extracted from the wreckage. The people are up in arms, some against the rebels, some against the council itself who was unable to stop such a thing from happening. There's no denying the heavy stench of fear that's filtered across to the island and saturated the air of her father's study where the four of them were currently holed up.

"Pro bending," Korra snorts and crosses her arms against her chest firmly. "Truly the representation for all that benders have become and the rebels to hate."

"What are we supposed to do about it though?" Jinora asks with a small sigh and rubs her slim fingers against her temples. "We don't know what their next target is, and we don't know how they even blew up that arena. Bombs? Other benders that they have working for their cause? We don't know until we _go across to the mainland_." She insists through gritted teeth and sends a meaningful glare towards her father who returns the stare evenly with a raised eyebrow at his desk.

"Jinora," Tenzin begins calmly, "Let me remind you that the only reason you are here is as a master bender. We cannot rush in head first, we must first assess." He sighs too and waves his hand to in the general direction of the seat behind Jinora. "Now please, sit down, Jinora. You're making me antsy."

"'_Antsy'_?" Korra seethes and balls her hands into fists, "What do you think the rest of us are feeling, huh, _sifu_?"

"Korra," Mako's hand is placed on her shoulder gently as he pulls her quickly into an embrace. "We're all high strung, but Tenzin's right. We need to think this out. Plan it. Get a step ahead of these guys."

Jinora feels distinctively uncomfortable as the shoulders Mako has wrapped an arm around begin to shake uncontrollably and small sniffles can be heard as she presses her face deep into the fabric of the other bender's scarf. This is Korra; strong, beautiful, and unstoppable Korra who Jinora had _never_ seen cry or back down from a fight, and to see her breaking like this frightens Jinora beyond what she thought her nerves could take for the day as it was.

The grip around Korra tightens protectively as Mako says decisively, "We need to take five minutes to regroup, I think."

Both Jinora and Korra start at this, ready to protest vehemently until Tenzin stands from behind his desk and says quietly, "Yes. I need to contact the other councilmen too, this will provide you enough time to…regroup and we will further our plan of action then."

There's an understanding that passes between the two men as Mako herds the unstable avatar out of the room and is followed behind closely by Tenzin whose gait Jinora realises is stiff and rigid, a sign her father is more 'antsy' than he would lead them to believe. She herself can feel the strain in her muscles from the tenseness too and looks next to her where Bolin is sitting contemplatively in his chair. He glances up at her before letting a small smile open across his face and opens his arms wide for her. She doesn't hesitate at all as she sweeps her arms around him and curls up in his lap, feeling her heart rate slow down to match the one beating steadily in the chest next to her ear.

"What a day, hm?" He says to her quietly, his voice light and joking as he attempts to keep the mood from choking her too. "Start off getting ready to leave for your wedding and end it by blowing away all the ash settling in the temple, eh?"

She can't bring it in herself to laugh or even smile at this point and instead asks quietly, "Is Korra okay?"

"Korra's a strong woman, but Amon is something, some_one_, that has plagued her for years. She's scared right now, really scared." He admits to her slowly as if just realising this himself as he runs a hand up and down her arm soothingly. "She needs us to be strong for her this once."

"I can do that. For her, I can do that." She whispers quietly into his neck. For Korra she'll follow to the ends of the earth because if Korra can't lead them to triumph, she's sure that there's little else that can.

* * *

When they congregate again, Korra's appearance gives little hint to her earlier break down and she stands tall, if not somewhat impatiently, in the harsh afternoon light that barely filters in from the high library windows that are covered in soot. Pema has already tried begging Jinora to leave the strategy and fighting to her father and the Avatar, but after the vehement refusals she had received, stonily she agreed only if she would stand by in the decision making. Tenzin was unable to refuse his wife this, and thus stood wearily next to her at the library's table, arms leaning fully against the grainy wood for support.

"Lin Bei Fong has just contacted me," Tenzin begins, his age showing behind the wrinkles and salt and pepper hair. "…City Hall has just been set fire to."

Horror bubbles up in Jinora as she hears this. The majority of city hall's employees represented a non-bending population with only a few prominent members actually having bending capabilities or masteries. To her, there is no logic to this and she knows something is wrong, something awful and frightening as her father continues by saying, "The other four members of the council are dead, and from what Chief Bei Fong has said, evacuation at this point is futile."

"What can we do?" Korra whispers helplessly, her earlier bravado she had shown up in the library with fading fast. "What _is_ there to do?"

"We need to find him!" Bolin slams a fist onto the table, his gaze narrowed and determined. "If we cut off the head, we can stop the life of this fucking revolution."

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that," Tenzin shakes his head and gives the man a near sympathetic glance. "If we kill Amon, he will only die a martyr and more can rise to take his place. This is an _idea_ that we are trying to kill, not a man." His voice drops to a barely audible decibel as he murmurs, "And that, is _much_ harder to kill."

Mako steps towards the table now, leaving his leaned position against one of the many bookcases. "Maybe killing isn't the best plan, no, but take him prisoner? This is war, and we need to take out this man, one way or another. His strength isn't just in his numbers, but the way he can inspire the people to take up in arms about this. If we can hold him…well, I think they will have a hard time finding another leader like him." He pauses before saying in an unsure tone, "It's…it's an idea I think could then wither with enough time."

"We need to get off the island though." Pema says suddenly, surprising everyone in the room who had forgotten about the weary looking mother. "Amon is targeting every major point in the city and I am sure that we're not that far down the list."

"Pema's right." Korra says with narrowed eyes. "We need to get off the island immediately. We can decide then what to do and where to go."

There is extreme reluctance warring behind Tenzin's creased eyes before he sighs and gives the slightest nod. He turns to Jinora with pained expression. "Get your siblings together and we'll meet at the ferry dock in twenty minutes. I will start the evacuation." He glances at his former pupil and asks, "Will you help me with that?"

"Of course, sifu." Korra bows her head and there is no mocking tone at all as she agrees. Her gaze however is wary as she chances a glance through a dirty window where smoke can still be seen gathering around the city as the image burns painfully into their retinas. No one says it but there is no safe place for them _to_ evacuate the monks on the mainland.

"I'll help as well." Mako offers solemnly and grasps her hand tightly in his. Jinora doesn't miss the way Korra's shoulder literally roll back as if weight has been relieved from them and squeezes back the hand gratefully.

"I will grab necessities." Pema volunteers and lightly tugs her husband up by the elbow. "We will need to be quick, Amon may have been patiently waiting for ten years, but I don't think he he will be anymore." She turns to Bolin and says quietly, "Please help with my children."

"Of course." There is no smile, no jokes or otherwise that are supplied from the usually jubilant man. He realises the plea Pema has called for as a desperate mother and knows that no reassuring smile will compare to the level of maturity she needs to see to get through this in one piece. To get them _all_ through in one piece.

The temperature is frigid and the mood grim as everyone looks around at each other in a silent wish for luck before each part their ways, unable to look back in case their fear choked them all.

* * *

"Where's dad?" Meelo asks quietly and holds his brother's hand that is trembling shakily within his own. "He said he'd be here, right?"

"Daddy's coming, don't worry so much, Meelo." Ikki grins at her brother and pokes his nose patronisingly. "He's just taking care of the rest of the monks."

The majority of the monks are gathered at the dockside, half of them have already left on the ferry that is only capable of twenty at a time or by what few air bison they had to spare, and the other half are waiting nervously at the shore edge, none of them knowing what to expect. They look to the siblings curiously, as if expecting orders or a more detailed explanation to them. Jinora wants to hug her sister tight to her for being so brave as the younger of the two merely smiles reassuringly at the monks and dips her head apologetically at them. She can see the hand that Ikki has clenched in a fist at her side quivering and though the corners of her eyes and mouth are turned up, her face is strung tight in anxiety. Cautiously, Jinora steps forward to take all of them into the shelter of her arms and holds them close. "Father will be here."

Desperately, she looks back at Bolin as those words come tumbling out and can't help but wonder where _is_ her father? He gives her back a shaky but reassuring grin and curls thick arms around their balled up hug, holding tight. "Eh, your dad's probably getting out old man Teo, spirits knows it takes him about five hours to just walk through the main foyer."

Both brothers giggle at this and Jinora rests her cheek gratefully against the forearm that is pulling her tight against a warm chest. That heartbeat is sound and healthy against her back and it calms her nerves slightly until her youngest brother sticks out an arm from their mass of limbs to point at the water and chirp, "Hey, they sent us another ferry!"

There is confusion as everyone on shore is watching the boat blast closer and closer, a rush of smoke puffing up diligently from its stack as it approaches quickly. Slowly, Jinora disentangles herself from her siblings and Bolin and squints at it uncomprehendingly. There isn't any way with the panic that is ensuing on the mainland that they had the time or provisions to spend on people trying to enter the fray.

And then she sees it. The way the flag rolls out could've been any other kingdom here to provide aid, but Amon's emblem brings a rush of panic to the shore and it seeps into Jinora's veins as she instinctively drops into a defensive stance.

"Ikki," She murmurs to her sister, her eyes still firmly trained on the quickly advancing ship. "I need you to take them _out_ of here. Find somewhere safe. _Find Korra_."

To her credit, Ikki does not argue and grasps her brothers' hands firmly in hers. "Cmon kiddos, let's find Korra, mkay?" A nod of reluctant agreement passes through the siblings and they're off, fleet footed and quick as a breeze back to the temple that honestly seems no safer to Jinora than this open space of the dock where monks are shifting amongst each other in a panicked state.

"You ready for this, Sparrowkeet?" There's a small grin to this question as Bolin bounces agilely on the balls of his feet, ready to strike or duck at any given second. Jinora herself is scared silly and knows that this will be nothing like the pro bending matches he seems to take it like, but she merely nods stiffly and breathes heavily through her nose.

"The ferry is returning." She points where not very far behind Amon's attacking ship the familiar wooden boat is chugging along the water dutifully. "If we don't get these monks on and back safe, they're not going to make it. I'll play defense, and you're offense."

"_Wait_. Wait, _no_." He adamantly shakes his head and steps in front of her. "There is no way I am letting you go onto that boat that they are probably going to start firing at _alone_."

"Bolin," She grits out in frustration. Time is running out as she hears the clicks and bangs of shells being loaded into cannons from across the water. "Someone needs to take care of that boat." She grasps his hand pleadingly. "You've got my back, right?"

"Always!" He declares adamantly and squeezes her hand back.

"Good." She quickly brings herself up onto her tip toes to press a kiss against the corner of his mouth before swiftly sidestepping his form and leaping out across the water to shout over her shoulder, "Then watch it for me!"

Her feet slap against the water too quick to sink and the wind is roaring against her eardrums as her eyes water with tears. She can see the cannon aim and she has to compromise her form to throw her arms out and push the cannonball off course with a gale of wind. The sting of the October ocean water tears against her skin like needles and she gasps deeply when she resurfaces before grasping the side of the ferry and leaping aboard with a quick pull.

The captain shoots her a terrified glance as he watches her board his ship and fumbles with the rifle in his hand. "Put that away!" She snaps at him and quickly blasts herself dry with a gust of wind. "Keep driving this to the dock and I'll keep the cannonballs away, got it?"

He nods jerkily and throws himself back in front of the wheel just as Jinora dances clear of a projectile that whizzes past her head. Inhaling deeply, she blows an explosion of air towards the opposing boat that rocks from the impact and sends crew members scurrying across its deck as ammunition and various other supplies are thrown off board. She grins as she watches a boulder fly deep into the hull of the ship and panic ensues on deck. Cannons continue to rocket at the ferry but she manages to deflect and evade each one as they come flying at her.

She doesn't even register that they have docked until an arm wraps around her waist and pulls her drags her off deck roughly and onto the wooden dock. The elbow that she attempts to jam into her assailant's rib cage is held fast as the grip on her tightens until she can only kick wildly. "Woah! It's me, it's _me_, Jinora!" Is the loud yell that calms her down to a limp mess in his arms. It's only the dart of movement out of the corner of her eye that she sees that has her twisting in his arms and flipping them onto the wooden dock painfully.

They both turn to watch the cannonball crash into the water and scramble to their feet. "Have you found father yet?" She asks breathlessly and assesses the state of the monks who are scrambling aboard the ferry.

He doesn't need to answer because the rush of wind she feels at the back of her neck isn't her own creation. She whips around quickly, stumbling to right herself as she watches in horror as her father dance out of the way of a dark clad man wielding a rod of lightning. Just from where she is she can see another five of them leap around Korra and weave gracefully between each attack she hurls viciously at them, none of them tiring in their relentless attacks.

"_Mako_!" Bolin cries as he watches his brother get jabbed in the arm by one of them and it falls uselessly at his side. It takes no prompting for him to join the fray and only after she can see her mother and siblings riding on a bison floating safely high above the temple does she throw herself amidst the chaos. Weaving, dancing, striking, she dances through the enemies, her adrenaline rushing and fearing even the slightest brush from an assailant.

A sharp jab at the back of her shoulder has her crying out as her arm falls limp and she needs to leap high to barely avoid the second attack her opponent has thrown at her. She twists awkwardly and manages to blow the man off his feet but to her rising panic, she is unable to complete her usual bending forms.

"Jinora, _let's go_!" She hears Korra bellowing from atop Naga who is keeping a jittery air bison from flying away as Mako and her father climb atop it.

Her feet are faltering in their steps and she slumps gratefully as a thickly muscled arm wraps around her waist again, murmuring, "Bolin,"

"Not quite." A low voice croons into her ear and her world is arced with pain that runs through her veins, throwing her body into painful spasms brought upon by a thousand volts pressed into her rib cage before everything turns into a blessed darkness.

* * *

**This story has just gotten so out of control. It seriously just writes itself now. **


	6. she is caged

**Chapter Six**

When Jinora finally manages to peel her crusted eyes over, the first thing she does is throw herself onto her side and vomits her sparse breakfast of white rice and vegetables onto the ground. There's a throbbing bellowing through her skull and her hands are overtaken by an uncontrollable shake. She can't find the will to sit up properly, not when just slouching half against cold metal bars and half against the filthy ground has her in near tears from the pain ripping through her torso, starting from her rib cage.

Gingerly, she peels up her shirt and peers down at the angry burn that glares back red and charred against the skin. She's a little worried about broken ribs from the intense muscle contractions that are known to come with electric shock, but so far her breathing was not in laboured breaths, so lightly she brushes her fingers against the scabbing wound and gasps sharply as the pain spikes through her.

"Don't touch that."

Groggily, she looks up. She's in a cell, large enough for several people, but there are only two others in there with her. A younger man, perhaps a few years older than her, though judging from his lack of visible bruises, is in considerably better condition than her currently. The other is a miserable looking woman crouching in the farthest cell corner, her hair hanging limply in front of her face and some traces of smudged make up still present against her pale skin.

The man walks over and sits down before her, taking her hand away and examining it himself with a small frown. He glances up at her and tugs on her sleeve. "May I?"

She isn't sure what he's asking for, but those green eyes, just a shade or two darker than _his_ are are comforting, so she merely nods mutely and watches him tear off a long strip of the silken fabric. Hesitantly, he offers up his own sleeve of shirt and murmurs, "Bite into this."

She knows now what's coming and taking a deep breath, she screams agonizingly into the fabric as he tightly binds the fabric against her small torso as quickly as nimble fingers allow. When he's done, she finds herself leaning against him exhausted, her head against his shoulder and her hands gripping the sides of his worn shirt tightly. "Sorry, it had to be done though." He says apologetically and pats her back.

"Who are you?" Is the first question she can muster up as it's a complete stranger she's currently pressed against, gasping for breath in pain. Every inhale is a taught stretch against the burn that's rubbing against silken fabric and she twists in his grasp to try and find a position that doesn't inspire pain in her every movement.

"My name's Li." He sits her up and leans her back against the wall steadily. "And you are Jinora, eldest of councilman Tenzin's children and master airbender." He shakes his head sadly. "No wonder you're here."

"What is _here_?" The cell is dank and everything she expects of a prison cell if not more. The smell is putrid but there are no other sounds to indicate any other presences around save for the three of them. No guards, no other prisoners.

"Republic city's prison." He runs a hand through messy and dirt entangled hair. "They've emptied the prisoners out on the street."

"They? Amon?" She whispers back. He nods and she gasps in outrage. "That's not going to hurt just benders! That's nonbenders as well! Every citizen of this city!"

There's a sharp bark of laughter in the back that comes from the woman as she finally shows her face. She was beautiful at some point, Jinora can tell this, but right now she looks wretched and worn thin. Absently, she is reminded of that girl Mako had a thing with, the one that Korra still can barely stand to see as it brings back swings of jealousy in the woman.

"So, does the little bird really think that it's _equality_ that Amon's after?" Her voice is soft and low and it causes Jinora to recoil slightly at the name she has given her. "You're an idiot then. All of you who have believed him from the start are."

Li sighs as the woman stands and glares down balefully at Jinora, her stance predatory and on the offense. Jinora glances between the two of them before asking, "Who are _you_?"

"This is Kara, daughter of Tarlok." Li waves his hand absently at the woman who is shooting daggers through her glare at him.

"_Was_ the daughter." She spits out painfully, her eyes tearing up. "Before they took him in front of the city and slit his throat."

Jinora inhales sharply. Her father had said that they council was dead, but never did she expect something so brutal for the whole world to see. Panic floods her as she thinks to her family, her father fighting Amon's soldiers and her siblings and mother atop the bison. Was that to be _their_ fate too? She jerks up and flings herself at the bars and inhales deeply, ready to blow them down until Li's hand is gently resting on her shoulder. "Stop. They've temporarily blocked your bending and you're only going to hurt yourself, you've been out for a whole day, so you're especially weak."

"My family," She gasps and leans against the bars for support. "_My family_."

"They haven't been captured." _Yet_. The word hangs in the air but it's enough for her to slump down gratefully and glance up at them.

"Why are you here? Why are we still alive? And why is my bending only _temporarily_ taken?" She breathes and stops herself from grasping her side that's tearing up from the pain.

"We're to be made examples of. Friend of the avatar and her probending team, master airbender, daughter of a prominent councilman." He gestures then to Kara. "Also daughter of a prominent councilman bent on Amon's destruction, this time representing the nonbending portion that defies Amon." His hand then rests on his own chest as he shrugs. "Known doctor of the probending arena who has on more than one occasion spoken out against Amon's methods." He shakes his head sadly. "The council and the avatar are too powerful to leave in a cell for a few days before execution, so we're the next best thing."

"Why—why is Amon targeting nonbenders too now?" Jinora asks. Nothing that Amon has done in the past forty eight hours makes any sense to her and she knows the answer is right there in front of her nose behind the haze of pain and confusion.

It's Kara who answers after a derisive snort. "Amon isn't targeting benders. _Benders_ have never been his goal. He's targeting anyone who stands as a threat. He doesn't want peace or equality, he wants a _dictatorship_."

And the pieces click together suddenly as she lets her head fall back against the wall with a painful smack. Stupid, stupid, stupid girl. Of course. Amon hadn't been biding his time to strike at the bending world, but to raise an army to take over his reign. Another snort from Kara is heard as she sits back down in her corner again and hisses, "Make sense now, little bird?"

She doesn't get to answer though as the lock on the bars clicks open and a tall figure in black steps forth. The crooning voice that greets, "Oh, you're awake. Good, Amon would like to see you." Makes her cringe reflexively as it was the last one she heard before blacking out from the pain of electrocution a day ago.

She however is unable to back down without some semblance of a fight and gathers herself into a painful stance, ready to defend herself. The man sighs irritably and dashes forward faster than she can react to, painfully jabbing pressure points in her sternum and arms that she cries out painfully to. He tuts quietly and catches her roughly as she collapses to the ground. "He's merely going to _talk_ to you. I expected more manners out of you than that. We can't have you fighting with him when he's being so civil to you, can we?"

She says nothing and hangs her head, her eyes narrowing behind limp hair as he drags her out of the cell and down the dimly lit hallway. She will say _nothing_, she vows. Nothing that will betray her family and friends.

When she lays eyes on the man in the mask, she is hardly surprised at the garishly decorated hall that is lined with soldiers and propaganda. He stands at the centre of it all on a throne of sorts, body guards surrounding him as he glances down at her. His eyes flicker up and down her form, scrutinizing her as she resists the urge to spit and hiss at him like a feral owl-cat and instead stands still, trying vainly to avoid having attention cast upon her. He seems to wait for her to speak, but realises from her tight lipped expression that she has no plans to do so, so he laughs and drawls out, "You're so quiet. Not even a little chirp from you. Most of my prisoners are usually making such a ruckus with their bawling and begging or self-righteous drivel by now."

"I didn't realise you _took_ prisoners before now." She can't help but spit out, her eyes quickly averting back to the tiled floor.

He laughs, deep and low. It's a horrifying sound that she can't help but shiver from as he chuckles out, "I am sorry I will have to eventually dispose of you. You're much more fun than that silly avatar girl."

Her eyes dart up against her will, wild and hopeful at the mention of Korra and his eyes contort into what she can only guess to be a smirk. "Yes, she's been a little bit of an annoying thorn in my side, that girl."

"I don't know where they are. I can't tell you anything. I _won't_ tell you anything." She spits out and curls her fingers into fists, wishing desperately for the wind to summon into her hands.

He sighs and leans back. "And here comes the self-righteous drivel. Perhaps I liked you better silent, after all." His gaze drifts over to her in amusement before he says. "But I don't _need_ to know where they are. They only need to know where I am, and they will come straight into my prison happily, searching up and down for your pretty little head."

She looks up at him in horror and realises that she isn't just to be made an example of, she's _bait_. She knows too that nothing will stop Korra and Bolin and her father from searching for her and she gulps down the ball of helpless tears to glare hatefully at the man on his throne. She's never hated anyone this much before, not even Fong Li who seems to be a lifetime away from the present situation.

"Take her back." He waves his hand and guards are seizing her shoulders, dragging her back to her prison cell where she is thrown in and she forces herself to avoid looking into the pitying eyes of Li and Kara, both of whom seen to understand exactly what has transpired.

She doesn't know how long she is trapped down there in that cage, there are no windows and the times in which food is thrown at their feet in a tray is sporadic, so it could be days or weeks, she doesn't know. Li changes her bandages every so often after arguing with the guards that they cannot make an example of her if she's already dead from infection and so they supply the fresh bandages to them. Still though, the wound will scar horribly and the burn now itches as the healing has begun. She wishes for her grandmother with the soothing hands that could heal almost anything with ease.

Most of all though, she misses Bolin. She misses his earthy scent and his strong arms wrapped around her so tight she can hear the staccato of his heartbeat against her cheek and that gorgeous laughter that always follows closely behind. Sometimes she finds herself the corner of the cell and curls up into it, digging her face into her knees as she remembers him kissing her and his jade green eyes lifting up in giddy laughter.

One day though, they take Kara.

She leaves compliantly enough, only trying to bite once but giving up after a painful back hand to her cheek that resonates through the prison walls. It's when she returns though that causes concern from both Li and Jinora. She is unscathed by the time she returns, in fact there is more colour to her sickly pallor than before but she is strangely subdued in her actions and insists that there is nothing wrong when the two question her. She remains in her corner now facing the wall, her eyes slightly glassy as she gazes at nothing.

It isn't until Jinora realises that her twitching fingers can now summon whispers of wind that either of them realise what transpired with Kara.

"_Li_." Jinora hisses and glances out of their cell door to see if there is anyone there. There isn't. The halls are deserted though she is sure there is a camera or two hiding somewhere. "How long has it been since they've come and checked on us last?"

"A day, I would think. Judging from my hunger." He pouts and places a hand on his concave stomach. "I'd say they'd forgotten about us but I can't say that's very likely…"

"Good." She grins for the first time being put in here and gestures for him to stand. "Stand back. Cover Kara." Realisation dawns on his taut face and he grins, nodding enthusiastically.

The air around them swirls wonderfully as she can feel her element finally and it kisses against her skin playfully as she summons it forth. With a deep breath and a hard push into the air, the bars are flying and she leaps out of the cell, adrenaline rushing through her. She turns to Li who is clutching a limping Kara to him, a look of awe inspired on his face. "You're amazing."

She flushes slightly at the compliment but waves a hand urgently. "Let's _go_."

"And go _where_, little bird?" A voice croons behind her and she leaps just in time to avoid the crackling of an electric baton as it slices into empty air. She's slow and her body feels heavy, but _she can't afford to lose_, not now. She's dodging jabs and sweeping kicks, anger fueling every counter attack and leap. Roughly, she grasps his arm and drags it behind him, snapping the bone and eliciting a harsh yowl from the man who is now on the ground beneath her, his face pressed roughly against the ground.

"Where? _Away_." She hisses at him and presses down painfully on his arm as a dark chuckle rises deep from within him.

"Oh, birdie, do you think you're about to escape? Oh, no." He looks up to the other two captives and commands clearly, "Kara, Amon extends to you an invitation to join his new world of peace and freedom."

The woman in Li's grasp suddenly stands ramrod straight, her eyes glazing over and pupils dilating dramatically as she takes a lurching step out of Li's helpless hands. "I am honoured to accept." She murmurs back dazedly.

Suddenly and faster than Jinora can imagine, she is being pressed back against the wall, a hand at her neck and the other one firmly holding her wrists above her head. "Kara?" She gasps faintly and twists futilely in the woman's grasps.

"Kara's not home right now." The man chuckles and stands awkwardly, his arm dangling uselessly at his side. "She's a little…preoccupied." He steps forth slowly and darts his hand out against her neck and each shoulder, blocking each pressure point. "Now, behave will you? Now we've got to find you a new cage, birdie." He looks around before laughing. "Not that I foresee this being much of a problem."

She is dragged into a new cell with Li and Kara following closely behind. The door clicks shut and she chances a glance over at Kara who is furrowing her eyebrows blearily and murmurs, "What happened?"

"Nothing," Jinora whispers hoarsely and shuts her eyes as she leans her forehead against the cool metal of the bars. "Nothing happened."

When they come for her, she does not leave as placidly as Kara. She leaves kicking and screaming, her arms thrown out angrily and jerking around as they cage her in their grip, dragging her from the cell. She knows that Kara was merely a test run to see if the brain washing would work. Here _she_ was, friend to the Avatar, daughter of a prominent politician and the perfect bait. But it's useless as they continue to stab each of her pressure points and keep her in iron tight grips, shoving her into a chair that sits in a stone room, straps coming up and keeping her firmly in her seat.

She will die before she betrays them. They have their arms bound, but she can bite her tongue, hard enough to bleed out, hard enough to choke on her own blood.

"Now birdie, let's not be hasty here, okay?" His voice is soft and a mockery of a soothing tone as he tightens the leather straps painfully. A light whirls around her and all she can see is him, his lanky body blocking her view of anything else but that spinning, spinning light.

She nearly does it. She braces herself and nearly bites clean through her tongue until she watches curiously as he stops all movement, slumping where he stands, his eyes going dull. It takes her a moment, but she hears it, the squelching of blood as a stone shard works its way through his heart, protruding through his chest painfully. Finally, he falls to the ground, unable to stand any longer, the life drained out from him, pooling around her bound feet.

Arms wrap around her tight and she knows that heartbeat, knows it better than her own so she laughs, tears rolling down her cheeks as she wishes desperately she could return the embrace. "_Bolin_," She chokes out gratefully and presses her face into the strong crook of his neck.

"Sparrowkeet," He stands back enough to look her in the eye and grasps her face in his hands, his thumbs rubbing away the tears gently. She can't believe that it's his face that is smiling back at her, eyes wide with wonder and gratitude as he firmly presses his lips to hers. It's everything she remembers, everything that has kept her sane throughout her entire time of capture. His lips are insistent as they move against her and the only complaint she has is that she can't grasp him back in return.

"Bolin," She manages to gasp out at some point. "Bolin, my _hands_."

"Sorry!" He jerks up and begins ripping apart the buckles of the straps. "Sorry, sorry!" After she's free he swoops her into his grasp again, so against the idea of being out of her reach. "I've never been more…terrified or angry with myself." He admits into her hair. "I should've been by your _side_. I should've stopped him." His grip tightens in his confession and he kisses the crown of her head, her temple, her eyelids, the tip of her nose.

She groans though as his grip touches the side of her ribcage and he quickly steps back at the sound. "Where?" His hand is outstretched, ready to examine the wounded area.

"Not now," She insists and grasps his hand. "We need to leave. We need to leave _now_." She stops though and looks at the doorway. "But we need to get Li first."

"Who's Li?"

"My cellmate." She answers and drags him to the door she sees now has been pried open by the lock. Darting her head out, she looks both ways and sees a destructive trail of dead or unconscious guards on the stone floors.

"You've been trapped in a cell with some…_guy_ for over a month now?" He asks in horror and grips her hand that is in his grasp tightly.

"Really, Bolin?" She can't help but laugh and whirls around into his embrace so her hands are resting lightly on his shoulders. Leaning up on her very most tiptoes, she brushes both his cheeks and his lips ever so lightly with her own before shaking her head amusedly at his slightly disappointed expression. "Not now."

"Fine," He grumbles. "But if he's done anything to you, I've got plenty of other stone shards around to spare."


	7. she runs

**Chapter 7**

"_Jinora_!" Hands come up and tightly grip the steel bars that cage the man, his face pressing tightly between them as he grins wide enough that she has the sudden fear it may very well split down the centre. "Jinora you—you're okay, right?"

"Li," She grins back and grips the bars as well to snake her hands against his reassuringly. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I've brought help." She stands back slightly to let Bolin fall into the other man's view and draws her brows in as she watches the doctor blanch slowly.

"Ah, Bolin." His expression slowly bleeds into a wry smile as he steps back and throws his hands up defensively. "You are...not expected." He glances over at Jinora with a small measure of puzzlement and amusement. "I was expecting the Avatar."

"You two know each other?" Jinora asks incredulously and throws her gaze between them like a ball bounced back and forth against a wall.

"I've seen him around the arena…" Bolin says slowly, his eyes a deep green that burns slightly below the surface. "He's patched me and Mako up once after a fight." There's something wary flickering in his gaze, something in which he isn't telling Jinora.

"Perfect. Everyone knows each other. These introductions are always so lovely, I know, _but can we please get out of here before Amon's men get here_?" Kara stands suddenly from her corner of the cell and glares at them, her teeth grinding in a mixture of annoyance and extreme nervousness as her gaze darting down the hall in quick movements, waiting for any second for guards to come rushing in.

Turning slowly as if just remembering the woman was there, Li's hands come up to rest carefully against the her shoulders. Awkwardly, he gives them a gentle pat and begins slowly, gently, "Kara, I think…I don't think it would be a good idea for you to come with us right now."

"_What_?" She shrieks and jerks his arms off of her violently. "You're going to leave me to _rot_ here? I don't _think_ so."

"Listen," He grabs her hands again earnestly, "Last time we tried escaping with you…well, I told you what happened. We can't risk this again, it could be our only chance." His voice is pained, though not nearly so much as the expression on Kara's face as she realises that he's right.

Her body is shaking uncontrollably as she grips the front of his shirt tightly. "No, there…there must be another way. You can't leave me here. I won't come with you guys. I'll…I'll find my own way, just don't leave me here, _please_." Desperation is foremost in her voice, followed closely by a rising sense of panic that Jinora can feel palpably in the air as Kara's voice raises higher and higher with each word that comes tumbling out of cracked and drying lips.

"They will kill you if they find you out of your cell." Li murmurs in a tone that is trying to be soothing as he runs hands up and down her arms. "It's for the best…"

"_No_!" She screams and throws herself at him, her fingers drawn into tight claws as she scratches his face wildly. "Do you think that whatever they are going to do to me if I stay is going to be any _better_? You saw what they did to my father, you were there, you stood and watched as they cut him open in front of the crowds _and I will not let that happen to me as well! _" Her shrieks echo through the chambers and there is blood beneath her fingernail from a solid swipe she has managed to land on him. "They can keep _you_ as a little pet if you're caught, you and your special skills and knowledge of the human body, but they will kill me if I stay here—_YOU HAVE TO_ _TAKE ME WITH YOU_!"

Faster than Jinora can even register to stop the crazed woman, Li's hand flies up to a point on Kara's neck between cords of tendon and presses deeply. The reaction is instantaneous as Kara's eyes widen for a moment before fluttering closed as she collapses in the young doctor's arms unconscious. Grimly, he whispers a murmured apology as he sets her down lightly onto the stone floor and shares a pained expression with the young airbender.

"What the _fuck_ was that?" Bolin asks, enraged. He bristles like an owl-cat, his eyebrows drawing in and his lips curling back to bare gritted teeth. The mass of muscle in his arms are bulging dangerously as he glares at the doctor, his hands coming to the bars to clutch them tight enough to cause them to bend beneath his rage. "You're going to _leave_ her here for them to find?"

"Bolin," Jinora grasps his arm gently and bites her lip, pleading, "Please, we'll come back for her. But Li's right, because as long as she's with us while we're escaping and there's one of Amon's men around, we can't…we can't trust her. I'll explain later, I promise."

"Trust _me_ when I say she will be safer in here." Li reassures quietly and steps back from the bars, examining the damage Bolin had already inflicted upon them. "I see you've partly got the job done, care to help a man out further?" He tilts his head inquisitively at Bolin, a small bite forming into his lip as the earth bender stiffens, almost contemplating the action of leaving him to rot down here as well. Instead, he shakes his head slowly and steps up to the metal bars and with a quick jerk, pulls them aside enough for the slim man to carefully manoeuver out of.

She can see now that he's not curled into a small cell and has light reflecting off each sharp bone that stands out against his skull how alarmingly thin he is. She knows she isn't in the best of shape either; but she never was able to eat much as the food made her nauseous and swallowing hurt her constantly dry throat. Lightly, she grasps Bolin's hand and murmurs, "How long were we in there for, Bolin?"

A pained expression flits across his face and he gathers her tight to him, holding her against the crook of his neck. "A month and a half. I'm so sorry we couldn't find our way here earlier. I tried, I tried _so hard_ for us to get here as soon as possible, but we didn't have a working plan, no one would _let_ me—"

"Bolin," She steps out of the warmth of his hug and places both hands on the side of his face before touching down on his lips in a gentle kiss, "Thank you for saving us."

The dulled thud of a nearby explosion shakes through the stone foundation of the building, sending pebbles raining down in scattered bursts onto their heads. Jinora's arms fly up to shelter her head and she hisses, "We need to get out of here. _Now_." With a bite of her lip, her eyes are drawn towards Kara who is lying limp and ragged in the cell corner, rocks hailing down around her. "But we can't leave her here after all." She ignores the small sound of protest Li forms and asks Bolin, "Can you carry her? If she's unconscious, I doubt she'll pose much or any of a threat."

He grins at her and nods. "Of course, Sparrowkeet. And you're right. We've got to get out of here now. Judging by the noises Korra's making up there," He jerks a finger in the direction of the slowly rumbling ceiling. "We've got about seven minutes before she tears this whole place apart."

"Then grab her and let's _go_." Li urges with an insistent wave of his hands.

Without further urging, Bolin quickly tears the bars from the door and scoops the emaciated girl into his hold where she is cradled protectively between warm arms. A small flare of jealousy ignites in Jinora as they fly up spiralling stairs, only for her to viciously crush it with a heavy amount of shame and disgust. For her to be envious of an emaciated girl that had been taken out with a single blow to the neck was hardly—

Everything comes crashing and rattling down as stones are raining from the ceiling harder than before and Bolin is screaming at her to _run faster_. Her muscles ache at the exertion she is putting them through after nearly a month and a half of them being let to atrophy but she can see the door just close enough, _just_ close enough to make it. Behind the doorway that is torn off its hinges with a single jerk of Bolin's free hand though lies a spiralling staircase that Jinora can't help but despair at. Her steps falter and she hesitates as she isn't sure suddenly if either she or Li will be able to make it until a warm hand is pressed firmly against the small of her back.

"C'mon, Jinora, you can do it. I know you can do it." The desperation in the low murmur he utters at her fuels her forward and she's flying up the stairs, her heart threatening to frantically pump itself out of a pulse and fire licking searing pain through her calves and thighs as she dodges falling stones. It's no sooner than she manages to tumble into a well-lit hallway that is shaking with the resounding thunder of blows being thrown on behalf of her avatar friend does the entire stairway collapse behind them in a bellowing roar of falling debris.

"That was…close." Li pants on the ground next to her and rolls up on to his elbows to heave some bile onto the broken stone floor. "We should keep going." He wipes his mouth with the back of his wrist and looks at the two of them and the woman still past out in Bolin's dirty arms. "…But I have the sneaking suspicion that you two aren't planning on sneaking out quietly with me." At the unwavering stare that both of them return his comment with, the doctor sighs and holds his skinny arms out. "I'll take her. I can manage it the short distance out of here."

"…Thanks." Bolin manages to grunt and slowly lowers Kara into Li's outstretched limbs, wincing as the man staggers under the slight weight. "You sure about this?"

"Yes." He sighs and adjusts the deadweight in his arms to a more comfortable position. "I'm no use to you here as you try fighting Amon, and Kara will only prove to be in the way as well."

"Good luck." Jinora says uncertainly and reaches a hesitant hand to rest on his arm. "Be safe."

"Here's to hoping." He grins and turns his back on them, a limp painfully apparent as he attempts to jog away and down the corridor away from the thundering blows that echo throughout the building.

"Why don't you trust him?" Jinora _knows_ that this is hardly the time to be having this conversation, or conversation at all really, but there is something biting at the back of her mind that she just can't shake. Something is wrong, wrong in the way Bolin wouldn't meet the man's eyes and flinches slightly at her question. "It's…it's not just that you don't like him. You're _uneasy_ around him. What aren't you saying?"

His hand flies up behind his head to scratch it in a gesture that Jinora can recognize as complete discomfort in him. "…You know what I was like before as a kid on the street. I've never lied to you or hid it; you know who I've worked for. I did what I had to. What I _had_ to do to survive, to make sure that no one ever had to come take me away from Mako." He becomes increasingly uncomfortable looking and grasps the air in front of him to stop himself from reaching for Jinora.

"I didn't lie when I said he patched us up before after a fight…but it wasn't a probending battle. This was before we lived at the arena and I think he was just doing his apprenticeship there for his medicine and…and I just finished a really _bad_ job. I ended up being dumped there until someone dragged me in and had him fix me up." There was a pained expression on his face as he continues in a hoarser voice. "It was a really, _really_ bad job, Jinora. I ended up pouring it all out to him what happened. He never said anything. He didn't judge me, or yell at me, but he would never meet me in the eye. He just fixed me up and sent me out. I saw him around the arena a little bit here and there after we moved in, but he was never our assigned checkup doctor and after you go around enough battles, you get to know _everyone, _so I know he had to have requested never to be assigned to us."

The shame was still so evident for a deed so long ago done out of sheer necessity and all she could do was wrap her arms around his waist and say, "I…will never ask you about this. You don't have to tell me because I don't care. You're here now, and you're _you_." She looks up at him and smiles slightly. "I would _never_ have you any other way than the way you are now."

The returning kiss is so powerful it has her gripping at his shoulders for support as her legs becoming embarrassingly useless beneath her. She doesn't realise until now how much her body missed the feel of him close and warm until she has to clench her fists to stop herself from pulling him back after he draws away from the kiss. His eyes are somewhat glazed as he murmurs, "That…was probably not a good idea. Can't really afford anymore distractions."

She laughs and nods in agreement before sobering and asking, "Where do we go from here then?"

"I'm taking you out of here before things escalate any further—" His sentence is punctuated by the loud roar of the building being partially blown away by a force that rattles through Jinora's jaw and has her tumbling slightly in an effort not to fall flat on her face. "—and then heading back to help the rest of them."

"No." She hisses vehemently and grabs him by the collar. "_No_. You are not going back in without me. I'm not a little girl anymore; I can take care of myself."

"Jinora," He says patiently and holds onto her considerably smaller hands in a light grip. "This isn't…it isn't a matter of how adept you are as a fighter, but you've been in that cell for a month and a half and you can barely _stand_ on your own, let alone fight Amon and his hoard of followers who can all take away your bending and even kill you with just a poke to the head—"

—_Faster than Jinora can even register to stop the crazed woman, Li's hand flies up to a point on Kara's neck between cords of tendon and presses deeply—_

"_They can keep you as a little pet if you're caught, you and your special skills—"_

""_I'll take her. I can manage it the short distance out of here."_

"Wait." She grips the fabric in her hands into a ball as they become fists and her eyes widen while the realisation hits her harder than if the ceiling came crashing down on them right then and there. "A poke to the head…Bolin, how did Li know to just jab a pressure point like that and knock her out?"

"Well, he's a doctor, they learn pressure points and stuff…"

"No," She shakes her head vehemently and clenches her eyes shut in frustration. "No, Bolin, I don't care how good a doctor you are, you don't just tap someone on the neck like that and know where that pressure point is while you have a hysterical girl set upon clawing your eyes out coming at you and what it's going to do from an apprenticeship in medicine. Kara started saying it too, she _knew_ about it somehow, she knew that he was somehow valuable to him, and then he just…he knocked her out and left her for Amon's men."

The rumbling is getting closer as pillars surrounding them in the long corridor begin to shake and vibrate unsteadily. Frantically, Bolin's hand envelops hers in its large grip and he's dragging her down the hallway, yelling, "Okay, say his knowledge of pressure points _isn't_ legit, you've spent a month and a half with him, _imprisoned_. Regardless of if he somehow was taught by them their pokey ways, he's obviously not on the same side as them!"

"Something isn't right with all of this, Bolin, I don't like—"

The breath is suddenly slammed right out of her as large and thickly muscled arms wrap themselves in a constricting grip around her small frame and she's thrown forward onto the ground. She's gasping in pain like a gaping fish, tears in her eyes, and barely registers the flash of movement in the corner of her eye that only instinct manages to catalogue as _get out of the way_. "_Bolin_!" She shrieks at the heavy weight pinning her to the ground and pounds at his back urgently.

The scent of charred hair is an alarming awakening to Jinora who can only stare numbly at the crackling rod that in the last second the earth bender managed to flip out of the way of and roll them over a foot away from it as it still crackles and sparks angrily with electricity in the deep hole in the expensively tiled floor it has gouged itself into. Thick fingers grasp onto her shoulders and jerk her up onto her feet unsteadily as Bolin roars, "_Go! Run!" _and flings a boulder at the feline opponent who deftly moves out of its way in a graceful sweep and darts forward swiftly, just giving Bolin enough time to throw up a jagged wall of stone to block him.

She runs. She turns down back corridors and runs through trembling doorways, and everywhere, everywhere there is shouting and screaming; explosions and thuds. She knows now that if she stays with Bolin, she will only distract and hinder him and if she is responsible for his death, there is no amount of forgiveness in the world that would overcome her own crushing guilt. She runs until she trips over splayed legs that stick out from behind a hastily placed tapestry and falls with a small scream, her clawed up palms bursting red with pain.

An airy groan resonates barely audibly from behind the expensive and finely decorated cloth and the groggy movements give Jinora the impression that the victim is just stirring. Slowly and through a scarcely comprehensible mumble, the words tumble out from under the embroidery, "Korra…"

She recognizes that voice and throws the drapery off of the man who has made it to a crawling position on his elbows now and gasps. He is so pale, more so than even his usual complexion and it's only after her eyes drift to the exposed burn that lies right in the centre of his chest red and pulsing and burnt does she realise why. "_Mako_," She breathes and clutches his hand desperately, "Mako, what _happened_?"

"I got slow, I guess…" He pauses for a moment to hack uncontrollably until the floor and Jinora's already sullied rags are splattered with red blood that spits across her skin like ashes. "Korra…put me here for now." His eyes widen and he grips her hand painfully tight in his. "Jinora, you have to go help her. She's alone_, she's alone with Amon_. There wasn't anything I could do but she _needs_ help. She needs your help, Jinora." He's so desperate and so broken that Jinora can't help the frustrated tears that well in the corner of her eyes. She's useless too right now and so broken herself that even as she sits on the floor with this man she is panting uncontrollably from the exertion of running this distance.

"Mako…" She murmurs and forces her gaze down so he can't see the streams of tears that are dripping useless trails from the bridge of her nose onto their soiled and linked fingers. His defeat and anguish is palpable as he understands her wordless admission of surrender and slumps lifelessly onto her shoulder where warm moisture soaks into the fabric of her shirt and against her feverish skin. She isn't sure if it's blood or tears but it strengthens her resolve and she wraps her arms tightly around him to choke out, "I'll—I'll find her. I'll find help for her."

"Please, _please_, Jinora," He's mumbling incoherently now and gripping her back, "Save Korra."

She sets him back against the wall delicately as his gaze begins to glaze and waver and carefully wraps the tapestry around him, careful to make sure his feet are tucked in and away before standing unsteadily herself. She has no idea where Korra could have been cornered into with Amon, to but the resounding roar of waves echoing from down the hall gives her a good place to start. She's running again and puts to the back of her mind the pain that screams and beats against her lungs and limbs; she can't succumb to it, she can't fall prey to her weakness, _not now_.

The steel door is huge and barricaded with ceiling that has collapsed down right in front of it, barring her way, but she can hear them, the low crackle of lightning, the roar of wind and water, there is no doubt in her mind where the avatar is right now. Desperately, she begins throwing clawing away and small chunks of debris, working her way around the huge piles of stone that she can hopefully muster up the strength to just blow away after. She doesn't think about the impossibility and how it's only adrenaline that is keeping her from collapsing or how there's blood seeping through her rags from her ribcage; she just doesn't think, she moves.

"_Jinora, Jinora_!"

She turns around too quickly and stumbles back onto the piles of stone and cement around her, falling into his open arms and murmurs, "Bolin,"

"What are you doing here, Jinora, _you were supposed to run away_!" He yells angrily and refrains from shaking her only because any movement that doesn't echo certain delicateness looks like it will shatter her into a million tiny shards.

"Korra, she's in there…you have to help her," She breathes quietly and closes her eyes, resting her head lightly on his shoulder. She just wants to sleep. Everything is numb and she can't just push back the ache and fatigue that resonates through her entire body anymore. "You _have_ to help her…"

"Okay, stand back and I'll do this, Jinora, _just stay with me_." He pleads and pushes back matted clumps of hair from her forehead. She nods and stumbles back from him until she hits a warm body that lightly grips gloved hands onto the shrunken biceps of her arms. Confused, she turns slightly to meet that dark green gaze and panic floods her system because she _knew_, she knew this was wrong.

"Li…what are you doing here?" Bolin asks slowly, his eyes warily seeking Jinora's that are darting around in panic for escape from the grip that has become iron tight.

"I'm afraid you can't go in there right now." The doctor frowns and glares frostily at Bolin, angry sparks flickering beneath the ice his gaze has taken up.

His movements are slow as he raises his hands is a surrendering stance and murmurs, "Okay, Li, let go of Jinora, she can't _do_ anything right now."

The older man seems to contemplate this for a moment before shrugging and saying, "No."

She doesn't see from where he takes the baton but Bolin is roaring beyond a decibel that she thought was possible from a human being and pain tears through every nerve ending her brain can contemplate as the baton is thrust against the centre of her back, electricity rippling through her right through the soles of her feet. It's pain beyond what she can sanely contemplate and it's blessed relief when her skull cracks against the stone floor after collapsing and she suddenly she can't feel anything at all; _isn't_ anything at all.

* * *

**I just took out a small little piece of last chapter. Das all.**


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